


Missing

by ChaoticNeutral



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Akuma Attack, Erased, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Memory Loss, Memory Magic, Missing Persons, The Author Regrets Everything, bad things happen, no seriously, this is going to hurt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-09-26 13:00:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17142218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaoticNeutral/pseuds/ChaoticNeutral
Summary: Marientte and Ladybug are one and the same. No matter what happens, she is always helping people, regardless of the form she takes. However, with time and kindness comes expectation, and it can be easy to miss just how much good she does or overlook what she's accomplished, especially with the current conflict regarding Lila. But no matter what happens, people can take solace in the fact that she'll still be there.At least until there's a battle against an akuma with the power to erase people and Ladybug is hit.Fortunately, Ladybug remains standing tall and ever present.But the "Everyday Ladybug" isn't.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Fair warning: This is going to get worse before it gets better.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Things separate from their stories have no meaning. They are only shapes. Of a certain size and color. A certain weight. When their meaning has become lost to us they no longer have even a name. The story on the other hand can never be lost from its place in the world for it is that place.”   
> ― Cormac McCarthy, The Crossing

* * *

 

Some days, Marinette wished she could just disappear.

 

Sometimes that was when she was feeling particularly anxious and letting her own imagination jump to the worst possible result and destroy all her dreams.

 

Sometimes that was when dealing with particularly troublesome people and feeling like the world was against her. Chloe had always been good at bringing out that feeling. Lila, it seemed, was even better at it as she duped all of her friends with petty lies and so easily manipulated things. Marinette had been slowly feeling like she was sinking in a way as she struggled to not lose the people she cared about and not fall for any of Lila’s games. It reached the point where every day was like a constant battle of wits where the score board was hidden and she had no idea how well she was doing or if she was playing into the enemy’s hands.

 

Times like this, Marinette was grateful for the Miraculous and the mask it let her wear to be able to take a step back and away from the mundane problems of life and manipulations of certain persons.

 

Then there were times when she was reminded that there were worse things. Like the akuma.

 

She was luckily already transformed as she dodged a blow from the akuma’s strange staff. It looked for all intents and purposes to be like an eraser, though that may have been more due to the color than anything. What was up with Hawkmoth and his awkward designs, anyway?

 

It almost seemed like another Pixelator situation. The people this akuma touched didn’t fade away, but instead disappeared altogether almost immediately. She didn’t know what the full effect was supposed to be, but she was certain that one shot would be all it took to remove someone from the fight. Both she and Chat Noir had made every effort to avoid the blasts from the staff, but the akuma was able to attack from long range and it was difficult for either of them to be able to get in close enough to grab his possessed item.

 

Marinette grimaced behind the mask and dodged another blast. She could not risk letting this akuma hit her. Without her, there’d be no Ladybug and no Miraculous Cure. But when she saw Chat get cornered, she knew she wasn’t about to let her partner be taken so easily either.

 

“Chat Noir! Look out!” She shouted. Quickly, she wrapped her yo-yo around the akuma’s arm and pulled it away from Chat’s direction, ruining his aim and making him miss. However, this brought his attention and direction of his staff pointing to her now, and soon enough the akuma was firing upon her.

 

Panicking, she released her yo-yo’s hold on him and pushed herself to the side to try to avoid the hit. She could have sworn she felt something brush her arm and couldn’t help the wince. She half expected to end up in some sort of void or feel pain. She tensed, bracing herself and expecting the worst.

 

But nothing happened.

 

She was still there.

 

Ladybug breathed a sigh of relief. The akuma must have missed her.

 

“Are you alright?” Chat called, fear lacing his words.

 

She nodded in response. “I’m fine. Just don’t let your guard down and don’t let him hit you!”

 

“Of course! I’m a pro at tag!”

 

Ladybug rolled her eyes at her partner’s antics, but kept her sights on the enemy. She could not afford to let him get that close again.

 

And she wouldn’t. With a cry of “Lucky Charm!” and a rather unorthodox use of a folding chair, the akuma was soon caught in the equivalent of a human-sized mousetrap that had Chat looking particularly wary even as he joked about the circumstances. With a wry grin, Ladybug soon had the object broken and captured the akuma.

 

“Miraculous Ladybug!”

 

It was to much relief that the Cure brought back the numerous civilians who had disappeared. Ladybug still didn’t know what exactly the akuma’s power had done to them. The formerly missing Parisians seemed a bit disoriented, but little else was clear about where they had gone or the full effects of the akuma’s abilities.

 

It was probably for the best.

 

She waved away the ladybugs that had gotten a bit too close to her. The loveliness of ladybugs seemed uncertain or perhaps unwilling to leave, though she didn’t understand why. She was fine. It’s not like the akuma had gotten her, after all, and there was the rest of the city that still needed fixing. She nodded in satisfaction as they flew off, albeit appearing almost hesitant to do so. How strange. They’d never done that before.

 

Ladybug turned to Chat Noir with fist raised, which he returned with a smile. “Pound it!” They cheered together as they bumped fists over another job well done.

 

A single shrill beep filled the air, and a quick glance at the source found Chat Noir’s ring was down to two paw pads left. “I’d better split. Till next time, My Lady!” He proclaimed with a grin, giving her a bow before turning away.

 

And just like that, her partner escaped to run off back to wherever he goes when there isn’t a conflict. She should probably do the same as well since the battle was over. Now she just had to hurry and get back to—

 

Ladybug paused at that, suddenly uncertain.

 

She had to get back.

 

…

 

But get back to where?

 

…

 

Where was she supposed to go?

 

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion and she looked around as if for some sort of clue, feeling a sort of growing uneasiness she couldn’t quite stem.

 

…Was she supposed to go somewhere?

 

The akuma was defeated. She wasn’t needed anymore. And suddenly, she felt lost in a way she hadn’t before.

 

Didn’t she normally leave after a battle? She could swear there was somewhere she normally went when there wasn’t an akuma. She couldn’t always be fighting. There was a time limit, wasn’t there?

 

But…for what? Why did she need a time limit? She knew Chat Noir had a time limit before he detransformed, but she didn’t have that as far as she knew.

 

She was Ladybug.

 

She was always Ladybug.

 

Something felt off, but for the life of her, Ladybug just couldn’t think of what. The akuma was purified and everything was back to normal. Paris was restored. Her Cure fixed everything. But if that was the case, why did it feel like something was missing?

 

She shook off her worry and the creeping sense of anxiety that something wasn’t right.

 

Fighting the akuma must have messed with her head, she reasoned. Maybe she just needed a break and some air? She nodded to herself and jumped off, enjoying the strength and feeling of near-flight as she used her yo-yo to swing to the rooftops. Ladybug lived for moments like this. Freedom. No crime. No conflict. Just going where she pleased and seeing the city at peace.

 

But somehow, the further she went, the more she felt that she was going in the wrong direction.

 

* * *

 

**11/30/18**

**Alya: Hey, Marinette! Did you see the fight? I can’t believe the footage I got!**

**Alya: The akuma was making people disappear! Turns out it just erased them completely! It’s like they never existed! How crazy is that?**

**Alya: It almost looked like Ladybug got hit, but she took him down crazy style!**

**Alya: I love it! <3**

**Alya: NEway, we’re still on for later, right? The other girls are planning to meet up at the cafe after school. You said you’d be there.**

**Alya: Lila’s coming, too. She said she has an uncle who owns a world famous patisserie! Maybe you two can bond over that?**

**Alya: Get back to me. I have video footage to show you.**

**11/30/18**

**Alya: Hey, where r u?**

**Alya: We were supposed to meet up at the cafe remember?**

**Alya: r u really going to act like this over us inviting Lila? C’mon girl, we’ve been over this!**

**Alya: Now Lila’s sad and everyone’s upset. You ruined the entire day.**

**Alya: Can’t you put aside your jealousy and try to get along? Just because another girl likes Adrien is no reason to cause such drama.**

**Alya: You need to apologize to Lila and everyone. And you’d better make it good.**

**Alya: Lila has already been through enough. She doesn’t need your attitude on top of things.**

**Alya: Pick up already.**

**Alya: Don’t ignore me.**

**Alya: You and I are going to be talking at school tomorrow. This isn’t okay.**

**12/1/18**

**Alya: Nice try staying home to get out of it, but I will be hunting you down.**

**Alya: You’d better have a good explanation when I get to your house.**

**Alya: And I’m not buying any “sick” excuse.**

**Alya: You could at least answer your phone. It’s just going straight to voicemail.**

**12/1/18**

**Alya: OK, where are you? Your parents said you never came home yesterday!**

**Alya: I know you didn’t run away.**

**Alya: You better not be pranking me.**

**12/2/18**

**Alya: The rest of class knows and they’re all set on searching for you.**

**Alya: You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?**

**Alya: Is this what you wanted? Everyone’s upset and worried about you. You have everyone’s attention like you want. I hope you’re happy because when I see you I’m going to give you a piece of my mind for scaring me like this.**

**12/4/18**

**Alya: Marinette, this isn’t funny.**

**Alya: Call me ASAP.**

**12/7/18**

**Alya: Look, I know things haven’t been great and I’ve been kind of harsh, but enough’s enough.**

**Alya: We can talk about this.**

**Alya: Whatever’s going on, it can’t be this bad.**

**Alya: Girl, text me back.**

**12/9/18**

**Alya: I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry about not listening. I’m sorry I pushed you off. I’m sorry about not giving you enough credit. You’ve made your point.**

**Alya: You’re a wonderful person and you deserved better. I should have taken your feelings into account.**

**Alya: I was a jerk. I’m sorry.**

**Alya: I’m really, really sorry.**

**Alya: I’ll apologize as much as you want.**

**Alya: Just let me know you’re all right.**

**12/13/18**

**Alya: Please**

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What's your name," Coraline asked the cat. "Look, I'm Coraline. Okay?"  
> "Cats don't have names," it said.  
> "No?" said Coraline.  
> "No," said the cat. "Now you people have names. That's because you don't know who you are. We know who we are, so we don't need names.”  
> ― Neil Gaiman, Coraline

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A couple changes have been made from the version on tumblr, so please be sure to give this a read.

* * *

 

**Please leave a message after the tone.**

***Beep!***

**“Marinette, where are you? You said you would be spending with your friends, but It’s late and you have school tomorrow. If you want to spend the night with Alya, you know your father and I are fine with it, but you need to tell us first. Just call us back as soon as you can. Love you.”**

***Beep!***

**“Girl, you had better have a good reason for bailing on us yesterday! I don’t care what is going on between you and Lila, but that was no excuse to stand us up! You need to get over this beef with Lila, she has done nothing to you. You’re supposed to be better than this, remember? You’re not like Chloe.**

**I’ll be going to your house after school and we are going to have a talk, because this? This just can’t continue. I’ll see you later.”**

***Beep!*  
**

**“Psst! Mari, it’s Nino. I wanted to give you a heads up, but Alya looks furious and it seems to be at you. I’ll try to cool her down, but I don’t know what happened and it might help if you let me know your take. You know how she gets sometimes. Call me back!”**

***Beep!*  
**

**“Hey, Marinette? This is Adrien. I noticed you weren’t in school today and just wanted to make sure you were okay. If you need anything, please call and let me know.”**

***Beep!*  
**

**“Hello, Marinette! It’s Rose! I know you’re probably very busy and that’s why you didn’t come yesterday. No worries, I’m not upset! I just wanted to check in and make sure everything was okay. I just noticed you’ve been a bit down lately. Or maybe it’s because of whatever has you so busy? Anyway, if you need help, I’m only a phone call away. Bye!”**

***Beep!*  
**

**“Marinette, it’s your dad. Where are you? Your school called and said you never made it in today. Your mother and I are worried. Please call us back and at least let us know where you are. We love you.”**

***Beep!*  
**

**“Marinette, are you okay? You weren’t in school yesterday and now Alya is saying you never went home? That’s not like you. We all really care about you, so please, just let us know you’re all right.”**

***Beep!*  
**

**“I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, but it won’t work. All you’re doing is making it easier for me. I hope you realize that.”**

***Beep!*  
**

**“Hey, it’s Juleka. Where are you? Your parents are at the school and they seem pretty worried. They’re asking if we know where you are. Did you get into a situation? It’s never taken you more than an hour to respond to a text or call and some of the others said they’ve been trying to reach you since yesterday.”**

***Beep!*  
**

**“Marinette, it’s Alya. If you think you’re being cute or funny, you’d better stop and come clean now. Your parents are calling the police and naming you a missing person. If this is a joke, I’m never speaking to you again.**

**I just…you’d better be safe. And if you are, let me know.”**

***Beep!*  
**

**“Hey, Mari. It’s Nino. Look, I don’t know what happened, but I hope you’re okay. A bunch of us are getting together to try to look for you. So if you get this, just call any one of us. Though it might be best to reach your parents first.**

**Just hang in there.”**

***Beep!*  
**

**“Listen, it’s Alix. We know something’s happened and we’re all out looking for you. If you’re in a bad situation, just call or text us a location and we’ll be there guns blazing before whoever’s messing with you can blink. Just reach out to us however you can.”**

***Beep!*  
**

**“Marinette. It’s Alya. If this is about what I texted earlier, I just want you to know I didn’t mean it, okay? I was just angry. We can talk things out and I’ll…try to listen better this time. Just please tell me you’re safe.”**

* * *

 

This situation was too familiar for his liking.

 

When the news first came out that their classmate was missing, no one really knew how to respond. There were whispers and exclamations, sure. Everyone was worried, sure. They all had questions, sure. Sadly, however, there were no answers.

 

And Adrien was feeling a growing sense of deja vu that unsettled him and brought back memories of a time little more than a year ago.

 

If anyone asked Adrien, he would have spoken softly about unpleasant reminders of missing mothers and lack of information as to what happened to someone you cared about. How nobody really told him what was going on. How he had been left in the dark in more ways than one, kept uncertain as to exactly what happened or any of the details. It was the unknowing that really tore at him during that time. That there were clearly things no one else was telling him. Long nights staying awake and watching the shadows playing on his wall as question after question invaded his mind. Longer days staying holed up in a house that had suddenly become much too big and much too quiet, and how he wanted to scream at times to try to fill that emptiness only to feel forced to remain silent in the face of that oppressing weight. How his mother hadn't returned home. How he hadn't seen his father since then. And worst of all, how it wasn't even until he was dressed up and brought to the funeral that he had any idea that whatever had happened had been permanent.

 

Adrien had a lot of feelings about Marinette being missing. A lot of dark, bitter feelings that weren't all related to her specifically, which he felt to be somewhat unfair of him though he couldn't help feeling them nonetheless.

 

Because this was different. Marinette wasn't his mother. He wasn't being kept in the dark. At least, not intentionally. He knew as much as anyone else did. But it wasn't very much. And despite himself, he couldn't help worrying that he was losing yet another person important to him.

 

Because she was. Marinette had been there for him in a lot of moments, and he treasured his time with her. He had thought that there would be more times, fun times and happy times, plenty of time together with all of them. Even with the constant akuma attacks, he hadn't given much thought to the possibility of permanently losing any of them. He couldn't help worrying how he was going to handle that, or if he could. Yet he was finally being faced with that, and he wasn't sure how to feel or what he would do. He was worried. He was scared. He had a number of concerns and desires and hopes that he secretly wanted to share if anyone asked him.

 

But nobody did ask Adrien. And Adrien, given his upbringing, simply kept quiet so as not to trouble anyone. So he didn't speak about his growing anxiety for his missing friend. He didn't speak about the nights of looking over statistics or horror stories of missing persons that gave him nightmares of what could be happening to her. He didn't speak about his fears that this would be a replay of a previous tragedy that continued to haunt him. And he didn't speak about his secret selfish thoughts of powers he knew he shouldn't use and temptation to do so anyway if it meant he could keep some measure of the happiness he had managed to find. It might have been for the best though. Nothing good would come of it.

 

It had been four days since the official announcement and there was still no sign of Marinette. Regardless of any issues or conflict within the class previously, she was their classmate and friend, so of course they wanted to help in the search for her. Sabrina had been a good source of information given her father’s role with the police, though the information they had at this time was limited.

 

Marinette was gone. Her parents had contacted the police and named her a missing person. Law enforcement officials were currently keeping an eye out for the girl. But at this point, that was all they knew.

 

“Maybe we can help look for her ourselves?” Rose suggested earnestly. Adrien felt something in him lighten at that. This would help in the overall effort of hopefully finding their friend, or at the very least would cheer them up and allow them to feel useful. And right now, they needed to feel they were being useful. “We know her pretty well. So what if we look around in areas we know she’s been or would be and see if we can find anything?”

 

“We may not be necessary.” Lila replied smoothly in a way that seemed to ease the other class members but made Adrien suspicious. He knew how Marinette felt about Lila, as he didn't disagree with her. He also knew to a lesser extent how Lila thought of Marinette as well. She certainly didn't seem concerned for her disappearance, even as she seemed to play the part. “She already has multiple people looking out for her. We would just get in the way.”

 

“Hey, we’ve been through a lot together already from akumas to natural disasters and akumas that cause natural disasters.” Nino replied with a grin. “We’ve made a difference then and we could be the difference needed now.”

 

Adrien smiled at that, as did others in the class. Count on Nino to stand up for his friends and encourage everyone to coordinate. Honestly, if Marinette hadn’t gotten the position of Class Representative and more than proved her capability for it, Nino certainly would have been his second choice.

 

“There’s nothing to worry about.” Lila replied with a smile. She brought up her hand to her mouth and spoke more lowly, as if sharing a secret. “I didn’t want to come out and say it, but I’ve already spoken with Ladybug and asked her to personally look into the matter. It’s why she’s been seen around Paris so often lately. I’m sure this will all be taken care of soon.”

 

At that, the others in the class seemed reassured with the knowledge that their local hero was involved.

 

“Wow Lila, it’s great that you were able to get Ladybug involved!” Alya said, appearing cheerful.

 

Lila smiled. “Well, we are friends. And of course I wouldn’t want anything to happen to Marinette.”

 

Adrien frowned. Yeah, no. He wasn’t trusting her on that.

 

“Still, it wouldn’t hurt to have a few more eyes and ears out and about.” Adrien spoke up, causing the others in the class to turn to him. “Ladybug and Chat Noir are good at fighting akumas and helping with problems, but that’s if they know about them. Sometimes, we’ve had to be the ones to send out word to let them know there was a problem. 

 

Max nodded in agreement, much to Adrien’s relief. “Even if they’re already on the case here, there’s every chance we could come across something they haven’t yet. More people can only be beneficial.“

 

“Yeah!” Alix cheered. “Besides, it’d be better than just sitting around here and waiting.”

 

The others agreed, given the lack of anything else they could do about the matter at this time and resolved to aid in the search the next afternoon. 

 

To Adrien’s joy, the rest of the class was on board and they worked on making plans to search for Marinette. They agreed as a group to attempt to look around the city in hopes of finding anything that could lead to her. Lila, unsurprisngly, wasn’t too happy with the plan but put on a smile and played as though she was completely on board. Alya seemed reluctant to believe the seriousness of the situation, but still resolved to try to find her friend regardless. As such, the class worked out a plan to start a search that afternoon and agreed to split off into teams to cover more ground.

 

Adrien, by some matter of cursed luck he was sure, ended up in a team with Lila—who seemed more interested in milking her time with him and remained clinging to his arm. She kept playing up the “fearful girl” act, going on about how if Marinette was missing, maybe something was targeting young girls and oh she was so terribly frightened! Sadly, his other teammates were of little help in the matter, as Kim simply smirked at him and gave him the thumbs up sign like he was cheering him on for something while Max was working with Markov to run possible statistics and compile a list of places Marinette could be.

 

He was about to resign himself to an afternoon of feeling uncomfortable and experiencing numbness of the arm until a flash of red out of the corner of his eye attracted his attention and a glance upward revealed a certain spotted heroine surveying the city from a rooftop.

 

Ladybug! What was she doing out here?

 

Actually, that made him pause, considering. If he needed to be searching anyway, he could cover much more ground as Chat Noir. Plus he could tell his Lady of the situation and they both could search together! With the two of them on the case, surely they could find Marinette!

 

And it would get him away from Lila. Though a part of him said he really shouldn’t be as happy about that as he was. That was drowned out by the rest of him that really wanted her to stop touching him.

 

He ended up only feeling slightly guilty for the poor excuse he gave before rushing out of view to transform and join his Lady. He still fully intended to help in the search, it was just going to be from a better vantage point.

 

* * *

 

She loved the sky.

 

Why had she never noticed before?

 

Maybe it was because she never got to fully enjoy it due to the akuma fights. But here and now, just being allowed to stop and take it all in, it was like she was really seeing the world for the first time.

 

It was especially lovely at night.

 

The stars were amazing, though a shame the lights made them so hard to see. She loved getting to see the city like this, though. Those very lights may have made seeing the stars difficult, but they had their own kind of charm, she thought. It was like looking out over a sea of stars.

 

But everything was so much brighter and vibrant during the daytime. Color everywhere. The variety of flowers. Birds singing. Seeing the people going about their lives.

 

It was calming. Peaceful.

 

Why didn’t she get to see it this often? The clouds, the sunrise and sunset, the subtle ways the color shifted as the day continued that made her want to do…something with her hands to recreate it.

 

Maybe she should take up painting?

 

Well, she needed to find something to do with her free time now that she wasn’t just here when summoned. She had thought about taking advantage of her current situation to try to search the city for Hawk Moth, but without an akuma to try to trail, there was no way to even know where to start looking for him. So she took to patrolling the city instead, keeping an eye out for any butterflies or other strange activities. She had to be diligent, after all.

 

But oh, how her hands twitched to do something, and no amount of swinging around Paris or tricks with her yo-yo seemed to ease them.

 

There was a feeling of discontent she couldn’t ease. And a growing urge to do… _something_ but she didn’t know what.

 

“Ladybug! Hey, LADYBUG!”

 

The shouting brought her out of out her musings. Turning towards the source, she found a Chat Noir waving his hands and calling to her as he leapt towards her. He looked upset for some reason. Was there an akuma?

 

She paused and allowed him to catch up to her. “Chat Noir, what are you doing here?”

 

“I could ask the same of you. Can’t a simple cat come by and greet his Lady?”

 

Ladybug wasn’t moved, nor was she feeling particularly inclined to share her current state of confusion. “Did you need something?”

 

He blinked a bit at her abruptness, but decided to let it go in favor of a more important matter. “I’m helping out in a search.”

 

That sounded serious, she noted. “Has something happened?”

 

Chat Noir nodded. Now that he had found Ladybug, he just needed to explain the situation and soon enough the two of them would join the search. He was almost bouncing with anticipation.

 

His friend would no doubt be found soon.

 

“Marinette has been missing for the past three days, it seems.”

 

She raised an eyebrow. “Who?”

 

That gave him pause.

 

“Marinette?” He asked, sounding uncertain though Ladybug didn’t know why. “Marinette Dupain Cheng?”

 

Her expression didn’t change, and whatever excitement he originally had seemed to wilt. “We’ve helped her before, remember? You had me protect her from the Evillustrator. And then there was Befana, Gamer, and Glaciator.”

 

Ladybug shrugged. “She doesn’t stand out. Though she seems to have been involved in a number of akumas.”

 

He raised an eyebrow at that. “Seriously? She’s been a big help before.”

 

“Chat Noir, we can’t know everyone in Paris by name.”

 

He looked away, uncertain. He couldn’t really argue the point as it did make sense. Still, it did seem a bit off. He could have sworn it seemed like Marinette and Ladybug at least knew each other. If they weren’t friends.

 

And he would have sworn they were.

 

“Maybe you should. I’m sure the two of you would get along. You have a lot in common.”

 

She was far from impressed at the thought. “I’d hope not, if she really has been involved in so many akuma attacks.”

 

Chat frowned at that, not particularly happy with the criticism of his currently missing friend. “She’s a good person.”

 

“I’ll take your word for it.” She said, altogether unconcerned.

 

He wasn’t pleased, but he didn’t argue further. It would just turn into a conflict and likely make her less inclined to assist.

 

“Well, she’s disappeared and nobody knows where. I figured we could help out in the search for her.”

 

“But aren’t the police already involved? We shouldn’t interfere.”

 

His frown grew at that. This was really not how he imagined this conversation going.

 

“Are you sure she didn’t run away?”

 

He blanched. “Of course I’m sure! Why would she?”

 

She sighed—sighed! What was going on with her? “Chat Noir, we can’t presume to know people’s lives.”

 

“She wouldn’t run away! Marinette’s not like that!” Chat insisted, growing more frustrated. She wasn't. He knew she wasn't.

 

“How do you know?” She asked.

 

That made him stop for more reason than one.

 

Because truthfully, he couldn’t know. He didn’t know what Marinette was thinking or how she was feeling. He knew certainly that she had been having some difficulty over recent weeks with the reappearance of Lila and her constant lying to everyone. He even knew that Lila herself seemed to have a grudge of sorts against Marinette. There was still that incident not too long ago where Marinette was forced to the back of the class. He felt bad, because she had seemed pretty upset by that and no one else seemed to notice. Maybe that had affected her more than he thought? Maybe there was more going on in her home life than he realized? He didn’t know. He really had no way of knowing for sure that she wouldn’t run away.

 

But what he did know of her screamed otherwise with all the ferocity he normally reserved for battle. The very thought made him want to rear back and hiss. She wouldn’t run away. She couldn’t have. Marinette was strong and strong willed. Despite the issues he knew of that had been going on lately, Marinette wasn’t one to run away.

 

But he couldn’t tell Ladybug any of that either. She’s made it clear they need to keep their civilian identities hidden. And as much as it irked him to keep that part of himself hidden from her, he at least understood why. He knew she wouldn’t run away precisely because he knew Marinette and the kind of person she was. He knew her both as Chat Noir and as Adrien. Even if she acted differently between them, he still thought he knew her well enough. But he couldn’t tell Ladybug without revealing his relation to her. He wasn’t supposed to risk anything—not his identity and not any possible relationships or ties he may have.

 

He wanted to groan in frustration. Times like these, the secret identities were more of a pain than anything.

 

“She’s been through a lot as it is. She’s strong and determined. She’ll stand up to bullies and liars and always faces her problems head on. She’s kind and has many people who care about her.” He stopped, realizing just what he was saying. “Or so I’ve been told.”

 

Ladybug raised an eyebrow incredulously. “Chat Noir, are you having a relationship with someone while in the mask?”

 

He froze. His mind went blank for a moment before forcefully rebooting and realizing what she had just said and how this could appear.

 

“What—no! I’m not in a relationship with her! I just—she’s a good person and I really think we can help!” He insisted.

 

She hesitated, and seeing this, he chose to press on.

 

“She’s a good person, and as heroes, isn’t it our job to help people in need?”

 

“I don’t think we should interfere with the police investigation.” She stated firmly, but seeing his forlorn expression, something in her relented. “However, I will keep an eye out during my patrol and I’ll let you know if I happen to see her.”

 

His ears perked at that and he grinned widely. “Thank you, Ladybug! That’s all I can ask for.”

 

“I can’t promise we’ll find her.” She reminded him.

 

“But we can at least try. Thank you.”

 

“If we’re going to keep an eye out for her, we’ll need to know what she looks like.”

 

He blinked, startled. “Oh, right! Let me get a picture.”

 

With a couple of simple clicks on his baton, he sent Ladybug the picture he had of Marinette. He watched her expression to see if there was any sense of familiarity, but she only glanced over the image and nodded. There was no recognition there. No realization of who Marinette was. Maybe she was right? That Marinette was just one out of the many citizens of Paris and she couldn’t recall them all. Still, something bothered him about that and continued to bother him even after they parted ways.

 

How strange that she didn’t even know who Marinette was or what she looked like. It was somewhat unnerving that she didn’t even seem to recognize the other girl despite being the one to point Chat to her in the first place. Well, Chat-him, at any rate. She didn’t know about Adrien-him or that he would already know Marinette from his civilian life.

 

But Chat didn’t think much of it. He was so relieved to have Ladybug agree to help. They would find Marinette soon enough. He had no doubt!

 

Looking back, maybe he should have.

 

* * *

 

Soon enough, she and Chat Noir parted ways with the agreement that they could cover more ground that way. Ladybug was honestly grateful for the time to herself. She would certainly try to keep an eye out for any missing persons or strange activities, but something was nagging at her and she wanted to ease the growing headache she was feeling because of it.

 

She had been making progress on lessening the ache until she again heard her name being called.

 

Looking down towards the source, she found a couple of teenagers waving their hands and calling to her. Oh, they were from that school. That akuma-attracting class, she believed. And they looked upset for some reason. Was there an akuma? Or something else?

 

She swung down to meet the duo. They looked familiar and thinking back, she recognized them as the civilians that had become Lady Wifi and Bubbler. Alya Cesaire and Nino Lahiffe. Alya ran the Ladyblog. Both were generally a good source of information and had a strange tendency to end up in the middle of akuma attacks.

 

“Has something happened?” She asked, looking between them.

 

The students looked nervous. No, worried.

 

“It’s a friend of ours. She’s gone missing and we’re trying to find her.” Nino explained.

 

“Missing? Wait—do you mean that Marinette girl?”

 

The two nodded, appearing relieved.

 

“She went missing a few days ago.” Alya informed her. “Marinette was supposed to meet us at a cafe and never showed up.”

 

“I see. Did you have contact with her prior to that?” Ladybug asked. If she at least had a timeframe to look at, that could perhaps be a starting point and narrow the search. Though three days was admittedly long enough that she could be anywhere.

 

Alya started glancing through her phone. “We had texted each other a bit before then, but there reached a point where I was sending her texts and she just stopped responding. I thought…” She hesitated.

 

Ladybug frowned. “You thought…?”

 

The other girl hesitated, appearing anxious. “There was something of a disagreement. And when she didn’t show up at the cafe, I just sort of assumed it had to do with that.”

 

“I see.” Truthfully, she did, and not in a good way. It almost sounded as if the girl might have had cause to run away after all.

 

“Still, is it official? Are you really on the case then?” Alya asked, appearing excited at the news.

 

“We aren’t taking over the search or interfering in the police investigation.” Ladybug clarified. “But both Chat Noir and I have agreed to keep an eye out for her just in case.”

 

The couple seemed pleased with that. Like a weight had been lifted.

 

“We knew you would be willing to help.” Nino said with a smile. “We shouldn’t have been surprised since Lila said she had already told you about it.”

 

Here, Ladybug tilted her head in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

 

Nino blinked in surprise at her response. “Lila Rossi. She’s a friend of yours, isn’t she?”

 

“Yes!” Alya chimed in. “She told us about how you met! She even told us how you carried an ear plug for her during the Chameleon incident! It was great that she was able to get your help on the search!”

 

None of this was familiar. She knew nothing about anything either of them were saying and couldn’t help the growing frown. Was she forgetting things? It felt like she was, but even so…

 

This rang false.

 

“I’ve encountered her more times when she was akumatized than I have her civilian self. My only interaction with her was when I confronted her on telling stories about a relationship with me and claiming to have the Fox Miraculous. Just doing either of those things is dangerous, but claiming both would surely make her a target, regardless of how untrue they were.”

 

Alya froze, smile strained. “What?”

 

“I’m sorry, but it seems you may have been misinformed.” Ladybug stated, holding her hands up in a peaceful gesture. “Aside from her multiple akumatizations, I haven’t had any interaction with her. Other than when she became Chameleon, the last time I had any involvement with her was when she was Volpina during the Hero’s Day battle.”

 

Nino blanched. “Wait—you mean the illusion of you and Chat?”

 

Ladybug nodded. “It was most certainly another of Volpina’s tricks. I’m almost positive she was also the one who created a false Hawk Moth for Chat and I to face so he could attempt a sneak attack.”

 

“But…that means she had to have been in Paris that day.” Nino pointed out, looking to Alya in confirmation.

 

Alya’s grip on her phone tightened. “But she was supposed to be in Achu meeting with Prince Ali.”

 

“I don’t know anything about that.” Ladybug said simply. “But I can say with certainty that she was present for that battle.

 

“Then…how did you know about Marinette?” Alya asked, almost seeming to be reaching for something that wasn’t there.

 

“Chat Noir informed me just an hour ago. Prior to that, I didn’t know anything about this.”

 

Nino swallowed thickly. “N-nothing at all?”

 

“You haven’t spoken with Lila at all?” The Ladyblogger appeared to be growing desperate for something. Though for what, Ladybug wasn’t certain and no matter her answer, she couldn’t seem to give her what she was hoping for.

 

Ladybug thought back. Funny, she could swear she felt a dislike for this girl, but her encounters with her were minimal at best. “I haven’t spoken with her since immediately after she was restored from being Chameleon, and that conversation was brief.”

 

“A-about her tinnitus?” Alya asked, sounding hopeful for some strange reason.

 

“I wasn’t aware she had a disability.” Came the offhand response. “She seemed to have little difficulty getting up and down the tower on her own.”

 

Both Alya and Nino appeared to be growing more tense. Nino kept glancing to Alya in something like worry, while Alya appeared to be trying to hold herself together.

 

Ladybug glanced between the two, noticing how they both only appeared to be getting more agitated. But she was uncertain how to proceed or what specifically to address. And that nagging feeling and headache from earlier was returning with a vengeance.

 

“I’m sorry, but I really must be going.” She told them. “I’ll be patrolling the area for a while yet, so I’ll see if I can’t keep an eye out for this Marinette in the meantime. If there is anything else you need?”

 

Neither of the two said anything. They simply shook their heads in response.

 

“Then bug out!”

 

With that, she let her yo-yo fly and took off. She didn’t know what either of those students had been trying to achieve or what they had been seeking from her.

 

But there had been something in Alya’s expression that appeared heartbroken.

 

* * *

 

***Beep!***

**“…Marinette. Alya again. I…I spoke with Ladybug. She’s been swinging around the city more the past few days and I was able to talk to her.**

**She…didn’t know Lila at all. And she pointed out things that I…hadn’t really considered previously. I…really need to talk to you. So if you get this, please call me back.”**

* * *

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “A name can't begin to encompass the sum of all her parts. But that's the magic of names, isn't it? That the complex, contradictory individuals we are can be called up complete and whole in another mind through the simple sorcery of a name.”  
> ― Charles de Lint, Dreams Underfoot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ended up having to break the third part into multiple chapters due to how long it was getting. So there's going to be a cliffhanger ahead.
> 
> Also, fair warning: This is going to be the chapter that will piss a lot of you off. People have also mentioned it is triggering.
> 
> Be warned.

* * *

 

_“Can you tell us about the last day you spoke to her?”  
_

 

_“We were supposed to meet up at a cafe after school the day she went missing. She just didn’t show up.”_

 

_“Did that seem strange to you?”_

 

_“No. Well, I mean, not necessarily. She’s had a habit of being late or bailing on things before. I didn’t think too much of it. Though I did…”_

 

_“Miss Cesaire?”_

 

_“I assumed things. There’s a classmate of ours that she just…doesn’t like. Which is so weird because it’s hard for her to not like anyone. Yet she can’t stand Lila. I don’t know why. Lila’s so awesome and I know they’d get along if she just tried, but she won’t. I figured she bailed on the whole thing because she found out Lila was going to be there. I must have blown up her phone with all the texts and calls. I was just so angry.”_

 

_“Have those two been at odds for a while?”_

 

_“Practically since Lila started school with us. Honestly, I just figured it was because they both liked Adrien Agreste. Marinette has always been a bit dramatic when it comes to him, but she was never so mean to anyone before. At most, she’s gotten angry at maybe Chloe, but it was Chloe who bullied her for years and she still somehow forgave her just fine, even though she liked Adrien as well. She actually defended her and even set up a party for her one time. I don’t get why Lila was so different.”_

 

_“So was Marinette generally well-liked?”_

 

_“Yes. She was the person we’d all go to if we ever needed anything. Other than Chloe, I can’t think of anyone who doesn’t like her.”_

 

_“What about Lila?”_

 

_“Lila? No, she likes Marinette. Even if Marinette makes that hard.”_

 

_“I see. Thank you, Miss Cesaire.”_

 

* * *

 

“So she just lied to us? She’s been lying all this time?”

 

Nino simply shrugged helplessly. He couldn’t say he liked it anymore than she did, but he couldn’t deny what happened right in front of them. “Ladybug herself came out and confirmed it. It can’t get more clear than that.”

 

It really couldn’t. But she wasn’t having it.

 

“Maybe she was pretending not to know her in order to protect Lila?”

 

Oh boy…

 

He sighed, knowing exactly where this was going as he watched her start to pace.

 

“Alya.”

 

“Because if they are friends then certainly she wouldn’t want anything to happen to her because it’s dangerous for it to be known that a hero is friends with a civilian.”

 

“Alya.”

 

“And Ladybug is always professional and quick-thinking in the suit. She wouldn’t want to openly admit to anything, even though she should know she can trust us with her secret since she trusted us to help her before.”

 

“Alya—”

 

She spun on him, frustrated and angry and oh so stubborn, but that was why he loved her, even if it was driving him up the wall. “No, Nino. There has to be some mistake.”

 

“It sounds like the only mistake was trusting Lila’s story without talking to Ladybug first.”

 

The reporter rolled her eyes at that. “You know that Ladybug wouldn’t have been able to say anything. It’d be too much of a risk!”

 

“But Lila could? Despite the danger?” Nino retorted. Because yeah, thinking back, it was a really foolish thing to do. He’d vaguely known it at the time Lila first spread that story, but he definitely knew now that he had been chosen as a hero himself—allowed into a very rare position of a trusted ally to Paris’s heroes. He had kept quiet about his identity, even to Alya. And while he felt guilty, he had known why it was necessary at the time.

 

Heroes Day had been enough of an indicator of that—and man, if Nino wasn’t still kicking himself for his part in that mess. He fell because Alya had—because he had known she was Rena Rouge and it effectively tore him apart  to see her join Hawk Moth, even if it wasn’t really her choice. It hadn’t even mattered that he knew it was temporary. It hadn’t mattered that he knew she could be saved. He just saw his girlfriend change into something twisted and soon enough, he had been as well. All because he knew her true identity and let his emotions get the better of him.

 

Then Chloe had been directly targeted and taken down by her own family. Honestly, they were just lucky Ladybug and Chat Noir had been able to improvise despite their own allies turning against them, that the rest of Paris had chosen to charge in to help, and that they had managed to make everything right in the end.

 

Nino was still beating himself up for that. He hadn’t even realized what had happened until he woke up to the sight of several civilians cowering on the ground in front of him and realizing he had his shield—his shield meant to PROTECT people—raised in a clear position to strike.

 

He shuddered at the memory. How differently could things have gone if he had kept his head in the game? He could have helped Ladybug and Chat restore both Rena and Queen Bee. Or what if Chloe hadn’t outed herself to all of Paris? Hawk Moth wouldn’t have known to target her family specifically to bring her down. So many ways things had gone wrong, solely because they had each been revealed in some way.

 

It was dangerous to go spreading that kind of information. For him. For Alya. For his family. For his friends. For Ladybug and Chat Noir themselves. Heroes Day was already enough of a reason for that.

 

And yet Lila just came right out and announced such a connection so blatantly? Even if it was one of simple friendship instead of camaraderie, it was still a link that anyone could target and would still put multiple people at risk. He could kick himself for not thinking twice about it at the time. And again for not giving it thought even after he actually understood it for himself.

 

Yeah, he should have given Lila’s original claim of friendship with Ladybug more consideration after that, but quite frankly, he had forgotten about it himself. He hadn’t questioned it even after Lila brought it up again after the Chameleon attack. And again, he should have. Because it shouldn’t have taken Ladybug herself spelling it out for him to realize what was wrong.

 

“Lila went and claimed to having a connection with Ladybug. That’s dangerous, Alya. You and I would know.”

 

“It’s not like Ladybug came out and denied it.” She stated, defensively.

 

Nino gave her a flat look, clearly unimpressed. “How could she? By the time she would have even known about it, you already posted it to the Ladyblog. What could she even say at that point that anyone would believe?” Not to mention the very negative way people would view Ladybug if she attempted to go well out of her way to publicly counter it. It’d be akin to insulting her on live television and Ladybug was hardly that petty. Either people would turn on Ladybug for publicly shaming a civilian or they would be further convinced of the civilian’s claims.

 

That actually made her pause. Her blog was dedicated to facts about Ladybug. It was the first site about her and since its creation, it had been viewed as a legitimate source of information about the superheroes, akumas, and really any major events in Paris. Because of this, she was considered the closest thing to an expert when it came to anything about Ladybug. Even after she had given up on the search for Ladybug’s identity, that hadn’t changed. The thought that what she posted could have been false was insulting and terrifying all at once.

 

There was no way for her to even try to correct the damage once the initial idea was out there.

 

“But we have no proof she was lying.” She insisted, stubbornly. He normally loved that about her, but this was not the time to hold onto something that was falling apart.

 

“We don’t have proof that she was telling the truth, either.” Nino reasoned. “Think about what we do have: a verbal report from Ladybug herself that she has no connection to Lila versus a verbal report from Lila that they do.”

 

“But we don’t know why either of them made the claims they have. There could be extenuating circumstances.” Alya stated, and he could tell she wasn’t going to let it go.

 

It was frustrating trying to reason with Alya when she was so set on something, but he owed it to Ladybug and to Marinette to get Alya to see sense. He couldn’t succeed if he tried to argue with her, as he had learned over their time together that once she had her mind set on something, she wasn’t going to budge. However, he could take apart her points with time and nudge her in the right direction until she was able to come to the right conclusion for herself.

 

Luckily, their brief interaction with Ladybug had offered more than one simple counter to one of Lila’s claims.

 

“Then what about Volpina? Ladybug said she was there on Heroes’ Day.”

 

“Maybe it was a different akuma?” Alya replied, waving it off.

 

He wasn’t going to let her, though. He loved Alya and of course wanted to side with her in any situation, but this had gone too far to try to dismiss now. Marinette was gone. Ladybug was either lying or being lied about, neither of which was good. And regardless of how limited the extent of her lies may be, it was clear that Lila hadn’t been fully honest with them and he wanted to make sure he knew just how much that entailed.

 

There were benefits to having a girlfriend who was a self-made journalist. Like gaining an eye for detail. The tendency to end up in the middle of any crisis was less appreciated, but for once, not something he could complain about if his knowledge from his temporary position as a Miraculous user allowed him insight he may not have had otherwise. He wasn’t one to ignore the truth. And though Alya may jump before thinking, he knew she only ever wanted the truth.

 

And it hurt knowing that someone they thought was a friend had been lying to them. But if it did have to come down to Lila or Marinette, he honestly would rather believe in the latter. He was just sorry it had taken him so long to be able to. Especially knowing how important her friendship with Marinette was to Alya. ESPECIALLY knowing how important truth and honesty were to Alya in that friendship.

 

That was why, as much as he didn’t want to argue, he refused to back down.

 

“Volpina is the only akuma that has the power to create realistic illusions, and those scarlet butterflies only transformed people into akumas they had become previously. Well,” he amended, “except you and me. But we were transformed at the time, so that at least had a reason.”

 

“Ladybug doesn’t know for sure. The way she said it made it sound like she didn’t see Lila.”

 

“Lila was Volpina. You know she’s been akumatized before.”

 

“Yeah, but she wasn’t in Paris at the time!” She exclaimed.

 

“Ladybug had a point that suggests otherwise.” Nino countered. “The other thing to consider is that if they were friends, there would have been no reason for Ladybug to even bring that up. She could have simply said Lila didn’t tell her anything about Marinette and left it at that—and even that is enough to indicate Lila lied to us at least once.”

 

Alya hesitated at that. “Maybe Ladybug was trying to make Lila look bad?”

 

Nino gaped. He had expected some resistance, but that leap of logic was one he hadn’t seen coming. “Are you hearing yourself right now? Ladybug—your hero, our friend—LADYBUG who has saved the city more times than I can count, comforted akuma victims regardless of what they did to her, and went out of her way to console CHLOE of all people and entrusted HER with a Miraculous with the belief that she can become a better person—THAT Ladybug? And you really want to try to say that she would go out of her way to lie just to make a random student look bad?”

 

“Marinette said she saw Ladybug yell at her.” She stated, defensively as she tried to hold on to her point.

 

“That still means that Lila lied!” It also meant that Marinette had been telling the truth and he owed her a serious apology.

 

“Maybe they had a fight? And she’s just saying things because they aren’t friends now.”

 

Yeah. No. Alya had come up with some pretty wild conspiracy theories before, but this one was so far out it was in another galaxy.

 

Nino stared at her flatly, completely unimpressed with that logic. “Would Ladybug really bring civilians into a fight she’s having with a close friend in her personal life?”

 

She raised an eyebrow at that. “You know we aren’t just civilians, right?“

 

All the more reason to believe Ladybug, as far as he was concerned. But he needed to focus on the current point. “We have been temporary heroes in the past. Ladybug has been kind and encouraging, but she was always professional. The angriest I’ve ever seen her was when Chloe nearly crashed that train and even then she just tried to get the Miraculous back. She didn’t go out of her way to try to make Chloe look bad.” He winced at the memory. “Or, well, worse than Chloe already made herself look at any rate.”

 

Alya bit her lip. “But if they were friends who had an argument…”

 

Nino forced back the urge to groan in exasperation. “Ladybug is honorable and very strict about her position as a hero. She wouldn’t complain about personal problems to people who aren’t involved. Even if we’ve helped her with akumas, she hasn’t revealed her identity to us.”

 

That was another point he hadn’t considered previously. And one he knew Alya hadn’t either.

 

“And doesn’t that say something?” He asked, wondering. “That WE were trusted with Miraculous and the powers and heavy secrets they have when Lila wasn’t?”

 

She looked uncertain. “Well, if Lila was gone so often, then Ladybug wouldn’t have been able to get her help.”

 

“That’s IF what Lila was claiming was true. As it stands, Ladybug doesn’t even seem to know her.”

 

He saw the way her eyes shifted to the side. She was thinking, searching for something—anything she could draw on. “Maybe she was hit by an akuma that made her forget?”

 

He stared in disbelief. Where was Alya even getting these theories? “What would be the point of that?” He asked. “How would not knowing Lila’s her friend be of any benefit in getting her Miraculous?”

 

“Well, didn’t Ladybug seem off to you?” She pointed out, gesturing to the side and recalling the memory of the overall…detached way Ladybug had appeared.

 

He shrugged. “She seemed confused and a bit irritated that civilians were calling her down to gush about her supposed ‘best friend’ to her. I imagine anybody would be.”

 

“But what if—”

 

“Alya.” He interrupted her. There was a time to allow Alya to come up with wild theories and there was a time to make her focus on the truth in front of her. Sometimes, Nino hated having to be the one to reign her in to focus, but it was times like this that he was the only one who could. Especially now that Marinette wasn’t here to do it herself.

 

“What it comes down to is that either Ladybug’s lying or Lila is. And right now, both Marinette and Ladybug had pointed to problems with Lila’s stories. That’s two different people we know and trust making some very valid points that now that I think about it, Lila has talked her way around but never actually countered.” He looked at Alya, sad but resolute. He rested his hands on her shoulders in a show of support. “I think we need to reconsider what we know about Lila.”

 

She shook her head, insistent and forceful as she pushed away from his hold. “There has to be more to it!”

 

“Why?” He demanded. “Why does there have to be more to it?”

 

“Because how could I not have seen it?!” She shouted, gesturing wildly. “I’m a journalist! I’m an illusionist! I am freaking Rena Rogue! If Lila was telling lies, I should have KNOWN!”

 

He blinked.

 

“Oh.”

 

So that was it.

 

“Oh, Alya.”

 

He took her in. Now that he was actually looking, he could see that she was stressed. There was a tension in her shoulders, like a heavy weight that she was carrying was getting too big and no amount of words or pacing or theorizing could so much as shift it for even the slightest relief. She made exaggerated gestures for emphasis and as a way to try to get out the energy that came with the things she couldn’t fully say. And above all, her eyes were wide and she appeared on the verge of tears.

 

Alya was overwhelmed. She had been since Marinette went missing. Working hard to find her but working just as hard to hold herself together and try to reassure herself of the one thing she was scared to consider.

 

That maybe this was her fault.

 

She looked away from him, eyes shut tightly like she was trying to block out the clear and present guilt he only just now realized she had been holding in. “I’m always the one about finding the truth. I even told Marinette, remember? A good journalist always checks her sources.”

 

And she hadn’t. Not the way she should have. She had accepted Lila as a legitimate source of factual information because she gotten a scoop directly from her. She had been so stuck on the story she had been given first and what it could do for her blog and budding reputation as a journalist that she hadn’t even thought to check the validity of Lila’s claims or look elsewhere for confirmation. She had blown off the need to find a second source because as far as she knew, the only other person who could confirm it was Ladybug herself. It wasn’t like she could just run up and ask her about it.

 

Until she did. Without even realizing it.

 

In doing so, she ended up confirming everything she didn’t want to know. That Lila did lie. That she believed her without question. That she posted false information to her blog. That she had effectively spread gossip about her hero. That she had let herself be utterly and completely fooled.

 

And that when push came to shove, she believed a liar over her own best friend.

 

Lila was…new. And exciting. And just so interesting! All the things she had done—SAID she had done. All the people she had met—SAID she had met. It all sounded so amazing! So much so that just being around her and getting to be one of the people she met and would eventually tell stories about made Alya feel SHE was something, too. All the cleverly laid names and hints of connections and ties to greater things—to all the places she wanted to be someday. A simple superhero blog seemed so small in comparison. She didn’t even think twice before putting Lila on her site as one of the highlights. She didn’t think twice before believing anything Lila said.

 

But Lila had lied. From the very beginning she had been lying. It was up for debate whether at any point anything the girl had said was ever true. The friendship with Ladybug. Knowing famous directors and journalists. Saving Jagged Stone’s kitten. Her disabilities. Any of it—all of it could be complete falsehoods that Alya had not been able to see. Had even been unwilling to.

 

Which meant.

 

Which meant…

 

“Marinette was telling the truth and I didn’t trust her.”

 

Nino winced. They had finally reached the heart of the matter and it wasn’t any better or less painful than that first step in facing the fact of Lila’s manipulations.

 

“Alya, it wasn’t like that.” It wasn’t their fault they were fooled. They couldn’t have known.

 

But she just shook her head. Now that she had finally taken off the blinders and accepted the truth, Alya couldn’t look away from any of it. Including the harsher parts of her own actions

 

“Yes, it was! Marinette was my best friend. First and foremost, I should have had her back! I should have at least listened if something was bothering her. She was invested enough to be upset over this and I just blew her off!”

 

She gave a small shaky laugh.

 

“What does it say when I completely disregard my best friend like that?”

 

“It says you’re human, Alya. And you make mistakes just like everyone else.”

 

“I wasn’t just ‘everyone else’. We were best friends.”

 

“Hun—”

 

“And sure, I could justify it. Say that Marinette gets jealous easily and that I had every reason to not take her word for it, but that’s the same thinking that led to this in the first place. That it was ‘just Marinette’. Like she didn’t matter? Like she hadn’t already done everything and more to prove that she was deserving of my trust?” Her breath hitched. “And now she’s gone and I may never get to see her again. And the last thing she’ll remember is that I was a horrible friend.”

 

He didn’t want to say it.

 

He really didn’t want to say it.

 

But this was a time for truth, including the one thing neither of them had really wanted to acknowledge.

 

“It’s worse than that.”

 

“What?” Alya gaped at him, perplexed. “How can it be worse?”

 

“Because it means that Marinette may have run away.”

 

That floored her. “What?! Why THAT line of thinking?” She demanded. Because the very idea that Marinette would just run off without a word to anyone was downright laughable.

 

Except…wasn’t that what she had thought before?

 

She winced, remembering.

 

But that was different! She hadn’t believed that Marinette had run away for good! She just assumed Marinette had gone into hiding for a while because she was upset over the whole mess with Lila. Like a child throwing a tantrum and going off to pout for a while.

 

She had dismissed her friend’s concerns as mere jealousy and childishness…and now there was at least proof that there had been more to the situation with Lila.

 

Either way, Marinette was gone. Either way, the situation remained the same. So what made this different then now that she knew Marinette had been telling the truth all along?

 

“Because Marinette was right.” Nino answered, giving voice to the thoughts she really didn’t want to acknowledge. “She was right about Lila lying. She was right about Lila being manipulative. And she was the only one who knew it. She kept trying to warn us and not only did we blow her off, we turned it around on her and made accusations like SHE was the one lying. Wouldn’t you be frustrated in her place? Wouldn’t you feel upset with your friends putting you down like that? Especially if you were only acting in their defense in the first place?”

 

That hurt. It was all the secret worries she had been trying not to think about. “Yes, but not enough to run away! I would keep trying! Find evidence and prove—”

 

“But she did, remember? How many times did she point out holes in Lila’s stories that we dismissed? She even brought up seeing Ladybug.” Here he looked up at her, forlorn and angry. “Alya, we know Ladybug. She chose us as heroes to help her. She’s often given interviews in the aftermath of any major happening. Sure, it might not have been easy, but we could have asked her at any point to confirm either of their claims. It would have taken all of two minutes to get the truth and the thought never even crossed our minds.”

 

“Yeah but—”

 

“We just pegged Marinette as being jealous and emotional. We kept taking Lila’s side and defending her like she was the one who needed the support. And no matter what Marinette did or what evidence she tried to show us, we didn’t listen.” They had looked for every reason NOT to listen, he remembered. “Who would stick around after all that?”

 

Who would, indeed?

 

Who would continue to try for people who wouldn’t listen? Who would keep holding on to poor friends who were so willingly led away? Who would want to stay in a place where they were brushed off and ignored in favor of someone who seemed to offer more in the moment?

 

Alya bit her lip, unable to argue.

 

The truth was that Alya had suspected Marinette may have run away since the start. But she had at least thought it was more out of spite or a desire for attention—that Marinette would return after everyone had been worked up. So of course Alya was angry and harsh in her responses. Of course she didn’t take it seriously.

 

She didn’t want to give much thought to how that was completely unlike her friend, because it was the answer that fit the perception Alya had built of the situation. That Lila was cool and awesome. That Marinette was like Chloe in some ways and that jealousy and pettiness over the new girl getting attention and being near Adrien was something she should expect. It didn’t matter that she KNEW Marinette better than that. That for all that Marinette may have some things in common with Chloe, she would never intentionally try to harm someone the way Chloe did.

 

She let it cloud her judgement. It was the perception she had used to view all of the events that had occurred since. It was what she wanted to believe. It meant that Alya wasn’t wrong about Lila or her defense of her. It meant that wherever Marinette was, she was safe. And most importantly, it meant that Marinette would come back on her own.

 

But if Marinette had been right all along? If Lila had been lying and Alya had been so completely blind to it? That meant Alya had been a major inconsiderate jerk to her best friend and that was at best. Even worse, it meant Marinette may have had a reason to run away.

 

And more importantly: a reason to not come back.

 

She trembled.

 

Marinette may be gone for good. And it would be her fault.

 

* * *

 

The next day was bright, sunny, and in no way befitting of Alya’s mood.

 

She approached the school with a growing feeling of trepidation, something she had never been one to experience, even when running into an akuma fight. Despite her attempts to remain calm and relaxed, she could feel the tension thrumming and coiling throughout her body, ever building to anger that was waiting to burst out.

 

Lila was in there.

 

How was she supposed to face her now that she knew? The very thought of how the girl had so easily played them all was enough to make her blood boil. She couldn’t trust herself not to respond poorly if she heard another of the liar’s stories.

 

It just felt wrong that Lila was still there when Marinette wasn’t.

 

Alya thought she could handle it. And maybe in any other situation she could have. She had made it all the way to class without incident and actually started feeling she could possibly make it through the day.

 

But then she got to class and had to stay quiet as Lila started talking about how she had supposedly met with Ladybug the previous night to assist in her patrol and all the wonderful things they had talked about. Alya nearly cracked her phone with the force of her grip. It took Nino holding her other hand to keep her from speaking out with what she knew, she she was half certain she may have injured his hand as well.

 

Nino, like everything else, took it all in stride. Bless him. He even squeezed her hand back and tried to smile at her in comfort, though she could tell it was strained. He must have been having a hard time with this as well. They both clung to each other as the day continued, trying to do everything they could to not react to the latest lies even.

 

But by the time the lunch break finally came, Alya had finally had enough.

 

“I can’t.” She said to him in a rush once they were finally alone.

 

“Alya—”

 

“I _can’t_ , Nino.”

 

He sighed and squeezed her hand. “I know.” And he did, because he was just as frustrated. Just as angry. “I hate it, too.”

 

“I can’t just sit by anymore.”

 

“But would confronting her right now be the best idea?” He asked. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to confront her, because he sure as hell did. But the way things were now, could they really reveal her lies for what they were or would she just find another lie to protect herself with?

 

Alya knew this. Remembering back to the few attempts Marinette made to call her out, she recalled how Lila always managed to find a new way to twist her story, whether by throwing out more false lines to dismiss the facts brought up against her or by making emotional appeals to get people to riled up on her behalf to really give any thought to the facts.

 

Lila was a master manipulator. She was good at dancing her way around conflicts. And worst of all was that much like Marinette, she was a quick thinker and able to come up with things on the fly. For Marinette, it was a skill she used to help people or to adjust her own designs. But for Lila, it was a defense that made her very difficult to counter.

 

They didn’t have enough to call her out on yet. They still needed undeniable proof before anyone would fully believe them.

 

But at this point, Alya didn’t care.

 

“I’ll lose it if I have to sit through more of her lies.” Now that she knew? Now that she had to actually see it?

 

Nino frowned in sympathy because he felt it, too,

 

“Please, Alya. Just wait. I know it sucks right now, but we need to have a plan.”

 

She had a plan, thank you very much. It’s just that the plan was straightforward in confronting Lila and telling her to cut the bullshit.

 

“Let’s talk with the others first. Maybe try to come up with something together.”

 

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, because that worked out real well when Marinette tried it with us.”

 

He winced at that. “Okay, so we weren’t willing to listen then, but we know now. And with both of us working together, we can convince more of the others. That way, Lila won’t be able to get them on her side to counter us.”

 

“They’re already on her side!” Alya exclaimed, angrily. “Just like we were!”

 

He rested his hands on her shoulders, gripping her tightly and successfully getting her attention.

 

“But we aren’t now. And they don’t have to be either.” If they were able to figure things out, surely everyone else could as well. “Let me talk to Adrien and let him know what’s going on. He can help. And then we can talk to the rest of the class as well so we’re all on the same page. If Lila doesn’t know what we’re doing, she won’t be able to counter us.”

 

“And how long will that take?”

 

He said, smiling reassuringly. “Just try to hold out as best you can for now. We’ll listen, take note of what she says, and find the best ways to clearly debunk every one of her lies. That way, she’ll have no defense and no one can ignore the facts.”

 

She lowered her eyes, frowning in thought. “But…”

 

“Don’t, Alya. _Please_.”

 

A pause.

 

Then a sigh.

 

“I’ll try.” She stated, pulling out of his grip and walking away.

 

He watched her leave and couldn’t help but worry.

 

Nino hoped she wouldn’t.

 

But he really should have known better.

 

She hadn’t promised.

 

* * *

 

To her credit, Alya had tried to do as Nino suggested, she really did. But Lila had been the one to approach her.

 

“Oh Alya! I’m glad to see you! I wanted to share what Ladybug told me about Marinette’s case so far.”

 

And with that opening of all things.

 

She couldn’t not react. Not when Lila was actively playing on her concerns for her own best friend. Especially not when SHE had been the one subtly tormenting her best friend all this time.

 

With that, Nino’s earlier request slipped completely from her mind. And instead of avoiding trouble, she charged right into it.

 

“Don’t even try. I know you didn’t talk to Ladybug about Marinette.” Alya snapped before Lila could even start spouting whatever new made-up story it was she intended to share.

 

That seemed to surprise the liar momentarily. “What makes you say that?“

 

“I heard it from Ladybug herself.”

 

There! She saw a brief flash of anger in the girls eyes before she could fully cover it. There was some issue there, she could tell. She was certain, whatever relationship Lila had with ladybug, friendship wasn’t it. Friendship wasn’t anything close to being it.

 

“Ladybug is the liar.” Lila insisted, hotly.

 

Yeah, Alya wasn’t buying that. Ladybug hated lies. Maybe as much as Marinette.

 

“She wouldn’t even have bothered looking for Marinette at all!” The girl seemed to suddenly catch herself, covering the clear disdain with a sad and pitiful look. “But I shouldn’t be surprised Ladybug would say such horrible things. She’s always been jealous of me.”

 

Alya had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at that. “And why would that be?”

 

She smirked at that, as if Alya had just asked the perfect question. “Because I’m better and stronger than she can ever be and she knows it. I am the Fox Hero. I even have the Fox Miraculous to prove it.” She insisted, showing off her necklace that looked a little familiar.

 

Alya’s eyes widened.

 

Oh hell no.

 

“Are you saying you’re Rena Rouge?”

 

Was this how Ladybug had felt? Knowing that she was being used this way just to fuel this girl’s ego? Just to spread gossip and false stories that only served to bring her more attention from people who didn’t know better?

 

It was infuriating. Alya wanted to yell at her, to shout the truth from the heavens that she knew Lila was lying because SHE was Rena Rouge.

 

Lila looked away, biting her lip and for all intents and purposes giving herself the appearance of one who had just “accidentally” let a secret slip. “I can’t just come out and say that…”

 

“Now I know you’re a liar.”

 

That actually made Lila jerk back slightly in surprise before she put on a wounded expression.

 

“You too, Alya?” Lila asked with a whimper.

 

“Ladybug doesn’t let anyone keep the Miraculous. Chloe is proof enough of that.” Alya stated without hesitation. It was a point of disappointment for her and Nino, but she understood the reasoning. And quite frankly, she was just proud enough that Ladybug even trusted her to use the Miraculous at all or know anything about how it works in the first place.

 

“That’s because Chloe revealed herself to all of Paris and was never meant to have one in the first place.” Lila claimed back, wearing a disgustingly fake smile. “But the Fox Miraculous is mine and always has been.”

 

Maybe in any other instance, Alya would have gained some doubts. She might have questioned how Ladybug had gotten the Fox Miraculous to give her the few instances Rena Rouge was needed. A month ago, she even might have wondered if Ladybug had taken the Miraculous from Lila to give to her.

 

But she knew better now.

 

“Enough, Lila! You’re lying about being a hero, just like you lied about knowing Ladybug. And I know for a fact that you never once approached her about looking for Marinette. If anything, you were the only one who didn’t want to try looking for.” She stood taller, seeing the lies fully for what they were.

 

“Marinette was right. You’ve been lying to us since the very beginning, haven’t you?”

 

And just like that, the entire facade melted, leaving Alya not with the sweet and soft-spoken girl she had thought she knew, but a calculating viper. Lila simply shrugged uncaringly, but Alya could a sinister glint in the other girl’s eyes. “I simply tell people what they want to hear. It’s not my fault if they have unrealistic expectations.”

 

Alya felt herself bristle at that. “You’re intentionally misleading them! Don’t try to play it off like it’s their fault!”

 

“Isn’t it, though? They come to me. They choose to believe me. Any of them could easily have figured it out for themselves if they simply tried. The fact is that they don’t want to.” She smirked—the little bitch actually had the gall to smirk. “You certainly didn’t want to. Not when things were going so well for you because of it. How much positive attention did my interview get your blog, anyway?”

 

Alya froze.

 

Lila lied. Everything she said was nothing but lies used to draw in and manipulate the people around her.

 

But she couldn’t deny the truth in this instance. Alya HAD wanted to believe Lila. She HAD wanted to trust in Lila. She HAD taken Lila at her word without even considering the implications.

 

Because Lila was right. When it came down to it, Alya hadn’t wanted to realize the truth.

 

Seeing Alya’s expression, Lila’s smirk only widened. “And what will people say when they realized that the great and infallible Ladyblogger posted false information to her blog without even bothering to check it first?” Like a seasoned actress, she clasped her hands to her cheeks in mock surprise. “Why, that would completely destroy your credibility! Who could take you seriously? After all, you mess up once and people will be scouring your entire history to find any other dirty secrets.”

 

She knew. She was a journalist. It was the one thing she wanted to do with her life. So of course she did the research. She knew full well the dangers and pitfalls. She knew how easy it was to destroy one’s career—even one’s entire life with something as simple as a few poorly chosen words, much less a story with false information.

 

And Lila knew it, too.

 

“What kind of a journalist are you, anyway? Even Marinette put more effort into fact-checking than you did.”

 

Alya was barely listening at this point. Her dream was over anyway. What difference could she make now?

 

Still, Lila kept going.

 

“Even when Marinette presented you with facts you simply discredited her personally instead of finding anything that actually contradicted what she told you. I honestly wish I could claim credit for that one, but I didn’t even have to lift a finger against her at that point.”

 

That snapped her right out of it.

 

“Don’t talk about her that way! It’s your fault Marinette is gone!” Alya shouted.

 

Lila laughed. “Don’t blame me just because you’re a bad friend. Honestly, it’s no wonder Marinette chose to run away.”

 

And it hurt. Because her words were everything that Alya had been thinking about herself.

 

Except—

 

“Marinette ran away?”

 

Both girls jumped at the voice and spun to face a very wide-eyed and very upset-looking Adrien.

 

He looked between the two, horrified. “Is that why she’s gone?”

 

Lila’s eyes almost sparkled in glee.

 

Alya’s own eyes widened in horror.

 

Nonononono—

 

“No, that’s not true—“

 

“It is.” Lila interrupted quickly, putting on a sad and disappointed expression. “I overheard it in my interview with the police. Marinette had enough of this school and everyone in it, so she ran away by her own choice. Said she was done and took off.”

 

Adrien’s gaze snapped to Lila.

 

“She decided she didn’t want anything to do with anyone here anymore and she just…left.”

 

“That’s not true! She wouldn’t do that!” Alya shouted vehemently.

 

“How do you know?” Lila asked, cheekily. “Can you prove it?”

 

Seeing the way both of the other teens paled, the girl mock gasped. “No, I suppose you can’t now, can you?”

 

Before Alya could even speak, Adrien was already tearing out of the room.

 

“Adrien! ADRIEN!” She shouted after him, desperately wanting to reach him and convince him it was just another Lila lie, but by the time she made it to the door, Adrien was out of sight.

 

First things first, she texted Nino. If anyone could help Adrien, it would be him.

 

She, on the other hand, had a certain witch to deal with.

 

“Why would you DO that?” Alya demanded, rounding back on the cruel girl.

 

Because that…that was just _cold_. There’s a hurt that comes from being left behind that many never truly recover from. Chloe was evident enough of that, if her situation with her mother and obsession with emulating the repulsive woman was any indication.

 

Adrien also bore those scars. It wasn’t hard for anyone to tell that Adrien had lost important persons in his life and that this has been something that continued to have an effect on him even to the present day. There was always a certain amount of distance between himself and others—partly due to the measure of his fame, but also due to his own hesitance in fully opening up to people.

 

Marinette had a kind of aura or demeanor that made people want to trust her. She was the sort of person who people felt it easy to open up to. Whenever there was a problem, she was often the one to sense it and reach out to help, and in turn was often the one most people chose to rely on to solve those problems. And she did, quite beautifully at times. Juleka’s photo curse was one such instance. Then there was the collaboration between Marc and Nathaniel, when the former admired but was too shy to approach the latter.

 

And while her crush on him may have limited their interactions in a lot of ways, Adrien was no different from anyone else drawn to her. While she may have been convinced of the failure of any of her attempts to develop any sort of relationship with him, Alya saw full well that there was an effect. It wasn’t easy for Marinette to notice, given how subtle those results appeared in the face of the girl’s tendency to jump to extreme conclusions, but they were there. Alya could tell that they were. And even if she couldn’t read the subtle cues that Marinette missed, the reaction she just witnessed was practically its own billboard.

 

Adrien was downright heartbroken.

 

This fact alone had Alya fuming. Because he didn’t deserve that. Nobody did, no matter how much she may have wanted to smack him with a two by four until he got a clue sometimes.

 

But Lila? She simply scoffed and flipped her hair like she hadn’t just irrevocably damaged the boy she supposedly held affections for.

 

“The sooner he accepts that she’s not here anymore, the sooner he can move on.”

 

“You mean to you?” Alya hissed, quickly figuring out exactly what Lila was leading to.

 

If Alya had even a modicum of doubt regarding Lila’s sincerity—or lack thereof, it was gone. Crushed under the weight of the horrible realization of what Lila had just done.

 

Marinette was one of Adrien’s closest friends at the school. For all that she stumbled around him and struggled with nervousness and anxiety due to her own feelings, he trusted her. He cared about her dearly. Losing her was painful for all of them, but for Adrien? He didn’t have the social experience the rest of them did. And for as polite as he may be, he had difficulty allowing people to get close to him. With his strict schedule and homelife, multitude of extra activities that allowed him little free time, and all the last minute changes and cancellations that left him unable to be relied upon, there just weren’t that many people who really had the patience and willingness to work around him to build a real lasting relationship.

 

As it stood, Marinette was one of the few people he had who would. And she did it without any ulterior motive as far as his fame, fortune, or connections. She was a continuing source of support for him alongside Nino and to a lesser extent, Alya.

 

Adrien had so few friends as it was. The rest of the class was present, sure. And they often took part in events together. But they weren’t necessarily his “friends” to the extent that the three of them in particular had become. And Marinette had especially gone out of her way for him.

 

To lose her would be hard. To lose her thinking it was because she willingly chose to leave him behind would be devastating. How would he handle it?

 

Poorly, no doubt. He hadn’t had close friends before and losing any one of them, especially for a reason like this, regardless of its validity? It would leave an opening for someone else to step in and take advantage in the guise of trying to “comfort” him.

 

Lila knew this. Had clearly planned for this. And she just smirked back.

 

“Why wouldn’t he? After all, she’s just yet another person in his life who left him. He’s going to need someone who will stay by him. Even in the worst of times.”

 

Alya saw what Lila intended all too clearly and the very idea of it made her ill.

 

“You mean like you? You’re the one making things worse! What makes you think he’ll want anything to do with you?”

 

Especially after this.

 

“I’m here for him. And where is she?” Lila asked before tutting. “Oh right! She’s gone. And you don’t know why, do you? So how do you know she didn’t run away? Especially after the way you had been treating her?”

 

“Because Marinette wouldn’t do that!”

 

She wouldn’! She—she wouldn’t just—

 

“Wouldn’t she? With her friends turning on her and even Adrien not supporting her? Who wouldn’t want to leave and just get away from it all?”

 

“Clearly you don’t know a thing about her!”

 

“And neither do you, since you actually believed she was only talking poorly of me out of jealousy.”

 

She hated Lila in that moment with a greater rage than she thought she could ever feel for anyone. She hated Lila’s smugness. She hated her look of pure satisfaction, like a cat that had caught the canary.

 

And she especially hated that even for one thing—especially this one thing, Lila was right.

 

“Poor Marinette.” Lila mused with false sympathy. “Always trying to be the good friend. Helping people. And never asking for anything in return. But you and I both know that kindness doesn’t get you anywhere. I mean, it’s not like you wasted any time turning on her when you thought I had something you wanted.”

 

“You had nothing but lies!”

 

“And who sought to profit from those lies?” Lila demanded. “You believed me so readily because as far as you were concerned, I was a convenient quick ticket to a cushy position for you. That was all you saw and all you cared about.”

 

“Don’t try to make yourself the victim in all this!” Alya shouted, her voice turning into almost a screech by the end.

 

Lila’s glanced off in the direction of the door momentarily before looking back at Alya with a fox-like smirk.

 

“Oh, but I am.”

 

Lila’s arm rose before Alya even registered and the sound of a hard slap echoed throughout the room.

 

Alya jumped in surprise only to stare in confusion as Lila crumpled to the ground with a loud gasp.

 

She had—

 

Why had she—?

 

The door slammed open and Ms. Bustier entered the room in a rush, closely followed by a couple members of the class.

 

“What was that? What happened?”

 

Lila gave a shuddering sob that any big budget actress would be envious of. She looked up at Alya, eyes wide and wet. “Why would you do that, Alya?”

 

A memory flashed through her mind of Marinette throwing the napkin in Lila‘s direction and Lila catching it with her supposedly “injured“ hand. It all came back to her how Lila had appeared just fine for a couple of seconds before suddenly crying out in pain, attracting attention to herself and concern for her wellbeing. And anger at Marinette for supposedly causing her injury.

 

Only then did it hit Alya what was happening.

 

What Lila was doing again.

 

“Oh don’t you DARE—” Alya started, but a hand grabbed her arm before she could even finish speaking.

 

“Alya, what is the meaning of this?” Ms. Bustier demanded. The normally friendly teacher sounded nothing close to her usual pleasant self as she took in the scene before her.

 

She realized too late how this had to appear. Lila was on the ground, appearing injured. Alya was standing, appearing angry. No doubt anyone who entered the room at that moment would come to the false conclusion Lila had set up for them.

 

“Alya, what the hell?” Alix asked, staring at her in complete bewilderment.

 

“Why would you hit Lila?” Rose asked tearfully as she and Juleka rushed to the fallen girl’s side and touched her in concern. “Lila, are you okay?”

 

Lila merely hid her face and shook—in a way Alya was sure was holding back laughter rather than tears. The other two girls didn’t try to make her speak, rather holding her in an attempt to soothe her.

 

The bitch didn’t need to be soothed. Everything was happening exactly the way she wanted.

 

And Alya fell for it the same way she had fallen for all of her tricks before.

 

“Not cool.” Juleka murmured, shooting Alya a glare.

 

“I never touched her!” Alya exclaimed, but it seemed her words fell on deaf ears as the two girls were distracted by Lila’s obvious crocodile tears and continued to console her.

 

“It hurts!” Lila whined. And god, if she didn’t want to give her something that would really hurt he in that moment. But the way the other girls were looking at her, Alya had legitimate concerns that she would be the one on the receiving end of an attack.

 

That would just be adding injury to insult on behalf of a liar.

 

Fortunately—or unfortunately given the current situation, Ms. Bustier took charge. “Rose. Juleka. Take Lila to the nurse’s office to get checked out. Alya, you’re coming with me to see Mr. Damocles.”

 

“What? But—“

 

_“Now, Alya!”_

 

That tone of voice was one she had never heard from the teacher before, and she knew better than to question it. But watching Lila shoot her a smug look as she was practically carried by Juleka and Rose only made her seethe.

 

Within minutes, Alya found herself seated in front of the Principal’s office while he and Ms. Bustier conversed. As she waited for them to determine her fate, all she could do was mentally berate herself for everything that had led up to this point. Trusting Lila. Believing her over her best friend. Not being more careful when confronting her. Letting Lila hurt Adrien. And now, falling into her trap, ensuring that Alya’s word on the truth of the matter would automatically be questioned.

 

She wanted to yell. She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. She even wanted to give Lila a real punch to the face—while she wasn’t actually a violent person, she figured if she was going to be punished for it anyway, at the very least she could have given the bitch a real blow to make it worth it.

 

Was this how Marinette had felt, she wondered? Watching Lila play everyone and come out looking like the victim at every turn? Unable to do anything as the horrible girl twisted the truth and manipulated everyone to her own ends? How had she managed to endure it?

 

It had to have been hard for her, she realized. Marinette was never one to stand by and let an injustice go. And she hated liars. Lila was the epitome of everything Marinette despised.

 

And Marinette had been left to face this all alone.

 

Alya grimaced, taking off her glasses and rubbing her eyes.

 

“I was such an idiot.”

 

“What?”

 

She snapped up in surprise to discover Alix of all people standing nearby.

 

“Sorry.” Alix said, looking uncomfortable. “I just thought I should stay with you.”

 

Oh.

 

Okay then.

 

It was probably for answers. She couldn’t really blame Alix if that was the case. Alya knew she’d be chomping at the bit to pick at either side of the conflict for information if she was in the other girl’s shoes.

 

And sure enough…

 

“Alya,” Alix started, “what the hell was that all about?”

 

She sighed, tired and angry and just so tired of being angry.

 

“I was an idiot and Marinette was right.”

 

Alix drew back at that, confused. “What?”

 

Alya stood, meeting the other girl at eye level and letting out some of the truth of her growing rage. “Marinette was right and I should have listened to her sooner! Lila is a liar! No—worse!” She exclaimed, cutting herself off. “She’s a manipulator with no remorse!”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“She’s been lying this entire time. About everything! Being friends with Ladybug. Her trips around the world. I’d be willing to bet her supposed ‘injuries’ were fake, too.” She felt the tension leave her shoulders as she let out a breath. “I got it from Ladybug herself just yesterday. And when I confronted Lila just a bit ago, she tried to lie again.”

 

The thing she only now noticed after she was willing to let herself look for it was how fragile her lies were. How easy they were to pull apart. By all counts, she should have been able to do so on her own from the start, even without the knowledge that being Rena Rouge and knowing Ladybug provided her. That just made the lies obvious, like having an answer sheet for a test before it was even given.

 

Alya prided herself in being a journalist. She should have known. And if she didn’t know, she should have checked.

 

But she didn’t. And she looked down on Marinette for doing her job for her rather than taking in anything the girl tried to tell her.

 

Confronting Lila like this seemed too little too late after everything, but it felt like the only thing she could do. And now that she was here, having been played again and framed? This was nothing less than she deserved for everything.

 

“This happened because I called Lila out for lying and refused to let it go. I just wish I had figured it out sooner.”

 

Alix stared at Alya, uncertain and unconvinced. And Alya couldn’t help the way her stomach was dropping.

 

“You don’t believe me, do you?” She asked, though it was more of a statement. A sad, depressing statement that only made her feel more tired.

 

This had to be how Marinette felt, she realized. Trying to tell others the truth, desperate for anyone to believe her only to be given looks like this. To be regarded with suspicion. To have everything she said or did judged with an incredulous eye by people who were supposed to know her.

 

The thing was, though, it was easy for most people to write Alix off as a sporty punk action girl. They wouldn’t be wrong. Alix was the type to rollerblade in her dad’s museum, after all. And the “street art” that she didn’t always get permission to create beforehand. Plus the Tiebreaker incident didn’t make her out to be the most mature or responsible of people.

 

But most of the class tended to forget how often Alix was the one to act as a voice of reason. The thing was, she KNEW her classmates. She knew when Kim and his dares needed to be reined in. She knew when Nathaniel tended to make assumptions. She knew that as over the top as Marinette could get concerning her anxiety or her crush on Adrien, she wasn’t one to ever intentionally try to hurt anyone. Lose sight of how people could be affected, sure, but not actively try to badmouth or cause harm. Heck, the girl couldn’t even stand pranks.

 

So yes, she knew that Alya wouldn’t outright assault anyone. At least, not unless she was pushed to it.

 

But Alya was a generally level-headed person. She could lose sight of things in the name of her blog or a good story, sure. She could get ahead of herself and jump before thinking. But for the all the time Alix had known her, Alya had never resorted to causing physical harm. That just wasn’t her style. She would confront people, locate facts and information, and verbally tear someone down. Use her connections to find things out. Even when dealing with Chloe, the most Alya had done was call her out on her antics–and it was Chloe, the one person who could drive anyone to violence. Given the type of person Alya was, someone would have to have pushed her pretty damn far to get that level of reaction. And even then, there would have been plenty of other things Alya would have done before it even got to that point.

 

That Alya would go and attack Lila for no reason when they had been getting along perfectly well not even a day before? It just…didn’t sound right.

 

First things first.

 

“Did you hit Lila?”

 

“No. Though now I wish I had.”

 

Okay. So there was that. Alix couldn’t find it in her not to believe the other girl. Alya’s problem was jumping to conclusions, but never had she actually harmed anyone physically. And she had seen Alya angry before. For her to be like this? To actually regret NOT hitting Lila?

 

“If I did, I would certainly have done more than a simple slap.”

 

Yeah, something was very wrong.

 

“What happened?” Alix asked, worried.

 

“She told Adrien that Marinette ran away to get away from all of us.”

 

Immediately, the pink-haired girl lost any sort of friendly expression.

 

**“What.”**

 

* * *

 

He was practically kicking himself as he raced around the school. He knew full well that Alya was one for charging ahead without thinking even in normal circumstances.

 

She was mad. She was hurting. And Lila was a very obvious target. She was right there, practically fan-dancing in their sights. It was stupid of him to expect that Alya wouldn’t take a shot if she had one.

 

He just wished he had at least been there with her.

 

Nino liked to think of himself as chivalrous. And being chivalrous meant he knew it was not okay to hit a girl. Which was in part why he never did. The only time he’d ever actually broken it was when Anansi kidnapped his girlfriend. Though she was an akuma at the time, so maybe it didn’t actually count? Same with Heroes Day and the army of akumas trying to attack. He was pretty sure the circumstances made it necessary.

 

Still, there were a few rare instances when he actually regretted having that stance holding him back on a day to day basis. A couple of times were when Chloe was being downright awful, more awful than usual at any rate, and even then he managed to take it in stride. At most, he merely entertained the mental image of an anvil falling on her in a manner reminiscent of old cartoons.

 

And most recently, this regret came about five seconds ago when he got a text from Alya about how Lila said something about Marinette that had really upset Adrien.

 

Bad enough she disguised herself as Adrien and used his appearance to taunt Nino and steal his hat—which he was admittedly still just the slightest bit bitter about. But this? Upsetting the boy she supposedly liked? Telling more blatant and horribly hurtful lies? And for what purpose?

 

Though now that he really thought it over, she had lied previously about getting Ladybug involved in Marinette’s missing person case. And she had only done so as a direct response to Rose trying to convince everyone to start their own search. It was like she was trying to keep them from looking for her.

 

He frowned, eyes narrowed in growing anger as he thought it over.

 

No, there was no “like” about it. She was interfering in their attempts to search for their missing classmate. First by claiming there was no need because others were on the case. Now by throwing this at them to make them feel bad.

 

Well, not all of them.

 

Just Adrien.

 

If he never doubted Lila before, that alone would have immediately convinced him. Adrien’s issues weren’t that hard to pick up on, and Lila went straight for the jugular with her comments. There was no way of pretending about that one—it was purely spite and malicious intent to throw that in Adrien’s face. Adrien only lost his mother a year before and he still had some major hang ups about that. That line would have brought all those insecurities to the forefront, which was no doubt what Lila intended.

 

He shouldn’t have been surprised. If Lila knew how to hit on the things people most desired to draw them to her, it only stood to reason that she’d also know exactly where to hit them that would hurt the most. He’d be impressed if he wasn’t so furious and worried for Adrien.

 

God, how had he been so blind? Here he thought Chloe was bad, but at least she was obvious. And despite everything, she still cared about Adrien in her own way.

 

Nino took a breath.

 

He was the calm one. Cool, collected, and laid back. He did not hit people for being the worst humans on earth.

 

Plus he had priorities. Right now, he had a friend in distress who needed him. That was much more important than tracking down Lila and exacting some sweet, sweet vengeance.

 

Which was part of the reason he was so grateful that his sense of chivalry allowed him to gain a girlfriend who was more than willing to do that for him.

 

Content that Lila would be dealt with, Nino chose to focus on the overly kind and much too sensitive boy in distress. Adrien was one who generally preferred to avoid bothering anyone if he could help it. When he was sad or upset, he would tend to hide away somewhere to angst in silence. With the people closest to him in his life regularly so distant, it was easy to tell that Adrien had been left with the belief that his problems—whatever they may be—were always inconsequential and needed to be swept away or hidden. That he could actually turn to anyone for help or emotional support was still a novel concept to him.

 

As such, Nino knew that in a time of distress, Adrien would fall back on that core belief. He’d want to go somewhere away from anyone else to collect himself without risk of attracting anyone else in the process. So Nino plotted out the closest isolated areas.

 

There were some open spots just outside of the school that may may serve as good hiding places if classes started and no one was already there. There was a park not too far away that could serve as a quiet spot in the early morning. He also knew that there were some empty classrooms not currently in use—it was no secret that several of the club rooms were often good places to hide out or avoid class prior to official club times. The boy’s restroom and locker room had strict schedules and could be empty at this time.

 

Then there was the roof, but nobody would go up there.

 

Except this is Adrien. Anime obsessed and with the strangest tendency to wind up in the craziest of places with no real explanation as to how or why.

 

Nino sighed and changed course for the roof.

 

And sure enough, a familiar figure sat curled up against the wall and appeared to be whispering to himself.

 

“Adrien?”

 

“You heard?”

 

He winced at that, but shrugged. “Kind of. Alya texted me.”

 

Adrien gave a short bitter laugh in response. “She would.”

 

Nino approached, cautiously.

 

“She said you could really use a friend right now.”

 

“I don’t deserve it.”

 

“We’re friends! Of course you deserve it! I don’t know what Lila said, but whatever it was, it isn’t true!”

 

Adrien only seemed to curl in on himself more. “You don’t know that.”

 

Oh, he was pretty sure he did.

 

“Adrien, whatever is going on, you can talk to me. You I’m here for you, man.”

 

The young blond looked up, eyes red and cheeks stained with fresh tears and quietly muttered “This is my fault.”

 

He jerked up, startled. “What? No! Adrien, it’s not your fault!”

 

“Yes, it is!” Adrien shouted, spinning around on him. “If it hadn’t of been for me, Marinette would still be here!”

 

He’d never seen the blond like this before. He was usually the picture of poise and calm. Like a lake under a sunny and cloudless sky. Nino knew him well enough to know it was mostly out of expectation, and that Adrien tended to bottle his feelings in. But there were instances where real emotion would shine through—happiness, disappointment, humor. He had seen Adrien hurt before, usually by his horrible excuse of a father.

 

But never had he seen Adrien so angry. And it worried him, because the anger was clearly directed only at himself.

 

“Adrien, we don’t know what happened to Marinette, but you can’t blame yourself.”

 

There was a short pause as the model clearly fought with himself over what he should say. One side clearly came out the winner, because he opened his mouth and spoke in nearly a whisper.

 

“Lila said Marinette ran away. That she chose to leave…because of us. B-because of me.”

 

…Was it too late to take back his “don’t hit girls” chivalry bullshit?

 

He’d known for a while that Adrien was…sheltered. Fragile in a way, though Nino didn’t want to call him that because Adrien was by no means weak. His years secluded away with limited contact with people outside from his modeling jobs and Chloe left him with little social understanding—Nino understood this. He had to deal with it when first trying to get Adrien integrated with the rest of the class.

 

Those were a few interesting weeks…

 

It only made it more clear that the losses he’d gone through and the resulting isolation had hurt Adrien in many ways. He was resilient and tried to simply deal with the arrows of life with grace and humor—poor humor, but he wouldn’t knock whatever made the boy happy. He especially wanted to prevent anything that could ruin what little happiness he’d been able to gain. And somehow, just having friends—Nino, Chloe, Marinette, and the rest—was enough to make him happy.

 

That was the reason why Adrien wasn’t handling Marinette’s disappearance well. The sudden loss of a friend was tough enough, but to have it blamed on him on top of that?

 

“Dude, Lila is wrong.” Nino stated, insistently. He didn’t know how far Adrien had fallen into Lila’s web of lies, but if it was anything like it had been for Alya and himself, he was sure he could help pull him out with a few simple truths.

 

“No, she’s not. Not about this.”

 

That…sounded strange.

 

“C’mon, Man. You know how Marinette was. She adored you!” More than Adrien knew, but that wasn’t his secret to share. “Why would Marinette run away because of you?”

 

**“Because I KNEW!”**

 

Nino froze, eyes wide. Those two little words echoed endlessly in his mind far longer than they lasted in the real world.

 

“…You knew?”

 

That…that can’t be right.

 

Adrien knew? He already knew about Lila? But how?

 

“Wait—when did you find out?” Nino and Alya had only just discovered this truth yesterday. When did Adrien?

 

“Since before the Volpina attack. Lila was trying to convince me she was a descendant of a past hero and that she was the Fox Miraculous user ‘Volpina’.” The blond explained, despondently. “That’s when Ladybug arrived and confronted her about her claims on the Ladyblog. It was why Lila was akumatized into Volpina in the first place.”

 

Nino felt something inside him go cold.

 

That was…

 

That was almost from the very beginning!

 

“Since that long…?”

 

Adrien simply bowed his head in shame.

 

“No wait, hold up!” Nino stepped forward, unable to keep his voice from raising. “You’re saying you knew Lila was lying this entire time?”

 

The other boy hesitated but weakly nodded.

 

Nino paled. He just…this couldn’t…

 

He had thought he was going to have to be the one to explain the truth to Adrien. That he’d have to help Adrien deal with the same feelings of hurt and betrayal he himself had felt when he found out they had all been manipulated. But for him to already know? To have known all this time?

 

That meant…

 

That meant…

 

“Why?” Nino demanded.

 

Adrien flinched.

 

But the capped boy pressed on, undeterred. “Why didn’t you _say anything?!_ ”

 

All this time, Adrien KNEW everything Lila had said was a lie, and yet he hadn’t said a thing. He hadn’t at the very least told Nino so he would be on guard—his BEST FRIEND.

 

“Being mean to her wouldn’t have made her change her ways. I just…I didn’t want to cause conflict.”

 

Nino almost choked at that. “Cause conflict—Adrien, you had to have known that Lila wasn’t just going to stop on her own!”

 

“It would have made her worse!” Adrien explained, growing defensive. Nino knew him well enough to be able to read his signs. He was drawing his arms in, trying to make himself as small as possible in a strange hope that doing so would let him go unnoticed. Adrien was feeling attacked.

 

At this moment, though, Nino really didn’t care. This was his best friend and he just sat by and allowed him to be played in some naive hope that the person playing him would eventually decide to do right and stop on her own.

 

Adrien didn’t stand up for him.

 

He didn’t warn him.

 

He just… _let him_ …

 

Nino was snapped back to reality when Adrien shook his head wearily.

 

“I-I thought she could be convinced to be a better person.”

 

As far as Nino was concerned at this point, it was pretty clear that Lila wasn’t capable of being a better person. While he couldn’t fault Adrien’s desire to see the best in anyone, it shouldn’t come at the cost of other people. And that was the problem here.

 

“And that mattered more than warning us so we wouldn’t be hurt in the process?”

 

They were his classmates. They were his friends. They should have mattered more than a compulsive liar who had no reason or intent to change.

 

They should have mattered.

 

HE should have mattered.

 

Adrien flinched.

 

“I thought that revealing her would make things worse. I told Marinette—”

 

“Wait, you talked to Marinette about this?”

 

Marinette had been the only one to openly try to call Lila out on her lies. She had been the one to try to warn them.

 

And then suddenly…she had stopped.

 

Not completely, exactly. She still didn’t like Lila and would go out of her way to actively avoid the other girl. He remembered that Alya had complained often enough that getting her to agree to go anywhere if she knew that Lila was going to be around was like pulling teeth. Despite Alya’s best attempts, Marinette still refused to engage with Lila or really have anything to do with her. However, she stopped trying to argue with her, as well. She stopped pointing out the contradictions in her claims. She started keeping quiet when Lila would come up with some new story, and wouldn’t say anything positive or negative when the rest of the class would gush about her. She stopped trying to show evidence of her falsehoods. She just…stopped trying.

 

But Marinette hated liars. She wouldn’t simply stand by and let a compulsive liar go around fooling everyone. It went against her very nature to stand by and do nothing.

 

…Unless someone _asked her to_.

 

Oh.

 

Oh, please no.

 

PLEASE no.

 

“Adrien…tell me you didn’t.”

 

Please—PLEASE say he didn’t tell Marinette to stay quiet. Tell him that he hadn’t asked her to do something that would only hurt her and everyone else.

 

But Adrien only paused at the way Nino’s eyes widened in horror, before looking away in guilt.

 

“I’m sorry.” Adrien whispered, on the verge of tears. “I thought…I thought it would be better…”

 

Nino felt his knees go weak. Almost like the ground was torn out from under him.

 

Adrien had known about Lila all along and he didn’t say a word. He didn’t tell anyone. Not even Nino, his supposed best friend.

 

Only now did he reveal this. Now, after Marinette was gone and other people had finally started to figure it out. If Nino hadn’t learned the truth, would Adrien have said anything at all? Would he have just let Nino continue to be made a fool of? Just like he let Marinette face everything alone?

 

He felt rage coming to boil in his chest. Because what kind of a friend did that?

 

* * *

 

“Such heartbreak. To learn of such betrayal from one friend only after it caused the loss of another. It’s the perfect prey for my akuma!”

 

Within moments, a butterfly was corrupted and sent out into the city.

 

“Go forth my little one, and evilize him!”


	4. Interlude - Chloe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Bee to the blossom, moth to the flame; Each to his passion; what's in a name?"  
> ― Helen Hunt Jackson

* * *

 

Chloe wanted to be a better person.

 

Knowing that Ladybug of all people had faith in her ability to be good and even trusted her with a Miraculous made Chloe want to be a person worthy of that trust. She wanted to be the type of person Ladybug would be proud of.

 

That was why she kept quiet when this new girl showed up and stepped into the limelight. Because she was trying to do better and doing better meant not upsetting people and possibly causing more akumas for Ladybug to have to fight. It meant being more aware of people outside of herself.

 

But being more aware also meant noticing things. Like how poorly Marinette had been getting along with the new girl. And how Adrien of all people seemed put off by her. It also meant paying attention to what other people were saying and realizing when they were full of it.

 

And Lila Rossi was full of nothing but lies and hot air. What astounded her, however, was how nobody else had picked up on it!

 

Well, Marinette had, clearly. Which was honestly a surprise to Chloe since the other girl had always been one to believe in everyone easily enough regardless of their blatant faults, much to Chloe's annoyance. And Adrien, of course, was too perfect to be so easily fooled.

 

But Cesaire of all people? She was a reporter! All about truth and facts and whatnot. She certainly got on Chloe’s case about it often enough even when the most she did was embellish a perfectly truthful story. So how did she miss such blatant lies? How could she not figure it out? And if not her, then Max is super intelligent and made that robot toy! What, couldn’t it detect lies if it was supposed to be so great?

 

This left Chloe in an uncertain position. Lila was lying to everyone and nobody seemed to realize it.

 

She paused, reconsidering.

 

Nobody seemed to realize and be willing to do something about it.

 

She nodded. That fit more. Knowing Adrien, he’d take the path of least resistance. Sure, she loved that boy but honestly, he needed to speak up more. Knowing Marinette and her crush on him—as well as her irritating need to please, she would stay quiet, especially if Adrien asked it of her. Which he no doubt would have in order to keep the peace.

 

She sighed.

 

And knowing the class, they wouldn’t figure it out on their own and wouldn’t believe her if she tried to say anything herself. They’d just take it as her picking on Lila and would rally to the liar’s defense without putting any real thought into what she was actually saying. Which was a shame, since they were really only harming themselves by doing so.

 

“Ridiculous!” She muttered to herself. “Utterly ridiculous!”

 

She had wondered at points if she shouldn’t step in herself. Deal with the liar through her usual means. Have her removed from the school and out of everyone's hair until she was nothing but a memory. But Chloe was trying to be a better person. So would that be the right thing or not? Adrien didn’t seem to think so, and he had been a generally reliable source of knowledge about what was supposed to be “nice”. But letting everyone be fooled and manipulated didn’t seem like the right thing either. So what was supposed to be right?

 

She groaned and pulled her ponytail in frustration. Why couldn’t this ‘be a better person’ thing come with instructions in case of situations like this?

 

“Okay, calm down Chloe.” She told herself as she closed her eyes in concentration. “Think. If you don’t know what to do, who do you trust to tell you?”

 

The answer came in an instant and her eyes snapped open.

 

“Ladybug.”

 

Sure, Adrien was sweet, but the poor boy was horribly naive. Marinette was somewhat better, but would be just as bad when Adrien was leading the way or other people she considered "friends" were pressuring her. Her Dad was ineffective. Her Mom was simply no help in these matters.

 

But Ladybug? Ladybug was her hero. Chat did his job in protecting her, but he lacked any real seriousness. It was Ladybug who stayed focused and saved the day. She did right by the people she was helping. Ladybug saved her life. She saved her family. And she even trusted her when Chloe honesty didn’t deserve it.

 

What would Ladybug do? What would Ladybug say Chloe should do? Would she want Chloe to out Lila at the risk of hurting her and possibly causing another akuma? Or would she want her to stay silent and let her classmates deal with the inevitable backlash when they eventually realize that Lila never intended to deliver on her false promises?

 

Seriously, at least when Chloe attempted to bribe people, the things she offered were real.

 

She’d think that helping the group over the individual doing wrong would be the right choice, but how would she know? Who decides that? She’s bad at this! It’s why she was up in her former “Lair” debating this mess in the first place instead of just telling Lila off and being done with it.

 

Ugh, moral choices were so hard! Chloe missed the days where she didn’t have to care and could just put someone in their place. Heck, everyone would be better off this time if she did! And she had even been sorely tempted to, if only to counter Lila’s growing spell over the school.

 

But then Marinette went missing and there were suddenly bigger things to worry about.

 

She didn’t particularly care about Marinette per say. But she had to admit the girl wasn’t…all bad.

 

Chloe often overlooked things that others did for her, feeling it was only to be expected that people cater to the daughter of the mayor. Either because it was owed to her or simply to curry favor. Honestly, she was used to the treatment and the knowledge that there was little besides obligation or attempted manipulation behind it.

 

Except Marinette had arranged that party for her. And she even supported Chloe with her Mom. To insult her Mother in such a way could as good as ruin her future and her dream to be a fashion designer, but Marinette still did it just to give Chloe a chance at the relationship she’s been wanting with her Mom. And sure, things haven’t been as perfect as she’d wished they be, but they were…better. Better than Chloe ever thought they would be. Her Mom stayed in Paris. She would spend time with her. She actually started to remember her name.

 

It was more than Chloe could have hoped for.

 

That was a level of kindness that Chloe couldn’t just ignore. There was a difference between being given a gift one felt one was owed and someone honestly making a sacrifice for the sake of another.

 

That was what a good person did. And now that Chloe got to see what one was supposed to be like, she knew she couldn’t be a good person. At the very least, though, she wanted to be a better person. A person worthy of the trust Ladybug placed in her, and of the Bee Miraculous and Pollen.

 

Funny thing about having someone see the best in you. It kind of makes you want to prove them right.

 

That was why Chloe decided to use her influence to encourage the search for Marinette Dupain-Cheng instead of crushing Lila Rossi like the pathetic little snake she was.

 

Unfortunately, she found she couldn’t do too much. It was an official missing person’s case, and while her father may be the mayor, he didn’t have direct control over police investigations. He could put pressure on them, allocate funds and resources, and encourage them to make certain cases a priority—all of which he did at Chloe’s request, albeit with a bit of surprise and hesitant pride in her focus for once. It wasn’t quite what Chloe had been hoping for, but the truth was that she didn’t know anything about the police procedures or how to direct them in any official capacity. Attempting to force her way into the middle of things would be counterproductive and only impede the search.

 

Chloe was naturally irritated at that, but she couldn’t fault the logic and didn’t press the issue any further. This did unfortunately leave her with little else to do other than return to the _other_ problem she had been hoping to be able to ignore in her quest for being a better person.

 

In the midst of Marinette’s disappearance, Lila seemed to be milking the situation for all it was worth. Taking advantage of Marinette’s absence to expand on her stories and tales without anyone there to pick them apart.

 

Except for Chloe. Which left her back at square one on how to deal with this issue.

 

It had only been a week since the official announcement and watching Lila practically floating around the school despite the increasingly depressing atmosphere and eating up attention or trying to take the focus off Marinette or even ANYTHING ELSE was starting to grate on Chloe’s last nerve.

 

She had rather foolishly hoped that maybe Ladybug would see her ruminating on her balcony and come to offer her a solution, especially since she had started to be seen more around Paris. But it was admittedly a long shot in the first place and Chloe had suspected from the start that this may end up being one of those things she’d have to find a way to resolve on her own.

 

That’s what a good person did, right?

 

Okay. She took a breath. Lila was lying. A lot. Like a whole lot. And it was always along the lines of overly fanciful and downright implausible stories. Knowing famous people, accomplishing great deeds, going to amazing places. All of which ultimately seemed to be for the purpose of drawing attention to herself. Kind of similar to what Chloe often did.

 

She paused at that.

 

Lila was…rather a lot like herself. Chloe didn’t know anything about Lila’s home or past, but she was the child of a diplomat. They clearly moved around often. That would make it hard to build real lasting connections with people. Maybe similar to how Chloe used her father’s authority to deal with problems, the lies were how Lila knew to get by?

 

For Chloe, Ladybug had explained to her how her behavior was harmful, and was able to do so with quite a bit of tenderness and support.

 

Maybe, Chloe reasoned, Lila just needed a little of that same tough love. Maybe she needed a push from someone who would confront her directly—KINDLY, she reminded herself—and let her know that she could be honest. That she didn’t have to lie for attention. The class may be made up of losers, but if Lila really wanted them to like her, it wouldn’t be that hard. They were all overly friendly like that. She didn’t have to resort to such painfully obvious lies.

 

So that was decided then. She would talk to Lila and try to encourage her to be more honest the way that Ladybug did for her. It’s what Ladybug would do. And no doubt even Adrien would approve.

 

She was going to do it. Her first step to being a better person. She was going to offer the new girl reassurance. She even had an entire speech planned.

 

And she was so proud of herself as she entered the school the next day. Chloe Bourgeois was on her way to being a good person, helping her first lost soul, and making the world better for it.

 

**Except…**

 

She saw Adrien running away—more pale and upset than she had ever seen him, already spinning around a corner and out of sight before she could even call to him.

 

She practically felt Cesaire’s yelling—more furious than she’d ever heard her, even all the times she had ranted at Chloe before.

 

She heard Lila’s response. And she felt everything screech to a stop.

 

That bitch was trying to seduce Adrien. She was intending to use a tragedy of a lost friend to worm her way into his heart.

 

Chloe felt a cold fury unlike any she had ever felt before fill her. How was it that rage could blind someone while making things oh so crystal clear at the same time?

 

There was a part of her—that beautiful, angelic part that encompassed everything she had hoped to be—that told her not to do it. That acting out of anger and hate wasn’t the answer. That it would only be going back to her old ways. That she didn’t want to be that person anymore.

 

She felt like she was on the edge—of what, she didn’t know. But she was torn in two directions.

 

Well—no, actually. That was a blatant lie. She was being catapulted in one direction with one last longing look back.

 

Chloe wanted to be better. She wanted to be a better person. She had promised she would try.

 

For Ladybug.

 

Even for Marinette.

 

**But Lila threatened Adrien.**

 

A better person would try to reason with her.

 

How unfortunate then, that Chloe wasn’t a better person.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first of several interludes. Because there is more going on in the background of the story.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, Marinette, you need to really be careful what you wish for.
> 
>  
> 
> Check with me on tumblr for updates.
> 
> https://nobodyfamousposts.tumblr.com/post/181313169600/missing  
> https://nobodyfamousposts.tumblr.com


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